


A Tale of a Half-Elf Prince

by Angel_YoungMi



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Elves, Fantasy, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Half-Elf, Half-Human, Implied Mpreg, M/M, yungi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:34:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 36,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23684710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_YoungMi/pseuds/Angel_YoungMi
Summary: He is the first born of the King but not the heir to the throne.Getting bullied by the other elves are a common routine for him as he is not a purebred elf.He longed for his father affections and always dutifully finish all the impossible tasks given to him.What will happen when a group of royal elves from Fronithien comes to Vanithien and the king want his heir to marry the next in line of the throne of Fronithien for diplomatic relationship.Only for the next in line of Fronithien to fell in love with the half-elf.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 73
Kudos: 227





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So~ A new story! I have a lot of plot for this one. I don't know how many chapters it would be. 
> 
> Credits to LOTR with some things that I used in this story. 
> 
> I change A LOT of the elves rules and what-not so bear with me. 
> 
> If some of you guys can't take it, stop reading it i guess. no need to comment on how you hate my story or how i write it. it's a fanfic. it's for fun. it's my imagination of some fantasy world and i wanted to share it with you guys who are willing to read it and be open minded about it. 
> 
> Sorry for any grammatical errors. I tried my best and I've studied as best as I could.

Yunho huffed as he put down his bow and arrows near the table before he took his knives and put it on the table carefully. He just got back from a month of guarding their borders and Yunho is exhausted. His father always put him where their enemies always tried to cross their borders and attacked them that he doesn't know if his father was impressed with his fighting skills or his father was hoping that he got killed by one of their enemies so he could finally get rid of him.

Either way, Yunho was just glad that he finished his tasks without any problem this time. He was glad that his clumsy ass didn't mess anything up and even the Leader of the Royal Guards praised him. That doesn't mean that he didn't encounter other troubles though, such as how the other young elves like him bullied him into going hunting for meals alone for 15 people including himself, getting water for the horses and was pushed to scout ahead from them on his own.

Yunho stretched his body before he hissed and sighed, sitting slowly on his bed. Yunho grimaced as he slowly pulled his right sleeves up to his elbow and hissed when the wounds stings. Yunho sighed. **_What should I do? I don't have any more salves.. I'm too tired to make a new one.. Would they give me if I asked for one small jar in the healing room..?_** Yunho thought before he heard a knock on his door.

Yunho tilted his head. **_Who..? It's already past midnight.._** Yunho thought before he went up to his door and opened it.

"My lord? May I come in?"

"Eden? Why are you here?" Yunho said with wide eyes but he let the Leader of the Royal Guards enter his room. "Do you think you could have deceived me, my Lord?" Eden scoffed, making Yunho pout and tilted his head. "What do you mean? Please don't speak in riddles.. I'm too tired right now to use my brain.." Yunho whined, making Eden chuckled and shook his head.

"Take off your tunic, my Lord." Eden said as he sat on Yunho's bed and motioned for Yunho to come over. Yunho's shoulders slumped as he trudged to his bed and pouted. "How did you know? I thought I did a good job hiding it this time.." Yunho mumbled as he took off his shirt slowly to avoid worsening his injuries. "You could fool them but not me, my Lord. I've been taking care of you since you were just a mere elfling. I can read your body language too well, my Lord." Eden scoffed as he pulled out a jar of salve from his pocket.

"Don't say that in front of Kyungho or he will have my head on his plate. How did you even manage to come here anyway? Usually Kyungho won't let you out of his room every time you arrive home after guarding the borders for weeks or months." Yunho huffed and hissed when Eden put a little bit of pressure on his wounds with the salve because of his words.

"Your brother is not that heartless, my Lord. I simply told him that you are injured and being a stubborn elf so he let me come here to treat your wounds. Hm.. I thought these injuries might be 3 or 4 days old.. It's longer than that and you did nothing, my Lord? It seems like you did manage to deceive me after all." Eden said. "I put some athelas when I have to go hunting for our meals but I don't get to tend to it all the time." Yunho said quietly and pouted when Eden flicked his forehead a bit.

"Why didn't you seek me? I was literally there with you most of the time." Eden said and Yunho chuckled bitterly. "And make the other elves jealous of me? They hate me enough that you were constantly with me rather than with them, you know? I don't want to add more fuel to the fire." Yunho huffed as Eden hummed while bandaging his wounds on his right arm. "Who knows what story they would tell Kyungho if they saw me asking you to help me tend to my wounds. I would rather be in pain with these small wounds than the wrath of my father because Kyungho told him that I'm trying to seduce his official and personal bodyguard." Yunho continued, grimacing at the thought of getting punished for something that he didn't do again.

"I apologize for that, my Lord. Lord Kyungho can be a bit possessive but he told me that he didn't expect for the King to punish you that much. He thought that the King would only reprimand you." Eden said softly. Yunho scoffed before he yawned and rubbed his eyes with his fist. Eden fondly looked at the young elf before patting Yunho's thigh. "Go bath, my Lord and you can go to sleep afterwards." Eden said, earning a nod from Yunho.

"Have a good rest, my Lord." Eden said and he walked out of the room with Yunho watching him from the bed sleepily. Yunho puffed up his cheeks and sighed out before standing up and walked to his attached bathroom. At least his father gave him this room where he does not need to bath with the other elves working and living in the palace. Yunho shuddered thinking what would happen to him if that was the case. **_Might end up bathing at odd hours then.._** Yunho thought, shaking his head as he took off the rest of his clothes.

\--

Yunho groaned when he heard several knocks on his door as he lethargically get out from his bed, stumbling to his door and opening it. "Yes?" Yunho asked sleepily with his eyes half closed. The servant cleared his throat, "The King demands to see you in the main hall, my Lord." the servant said quietly. "Now?" Yunho asked with wide eyes and the servant nodded his head. "Yes, my Lord." the servant said and Yunho held himself back from sighing out loud. "I'll be there as soon as possible." Yunho said and closed the door.

**_What did I do now? I did nothing that could cause father to seek me this early.. Unless they told him false stories again.. Father would believe them rather than me.. Please don't let it be another punishment.. I'm still tired..._** Yunho thought as he rushed on wearing his decent clothes and winced when his wounds throbbed. Yunho ignored it as he put on his boots and walked out of his room only to hear a bunch of elves speaking with each other a few feet away.

"When do you think he will come out?"

"I don't know. Let's just wait for him."

"I've been waiting for this. For him to come home so we can release our anger towards him again."

"We should've done this last night, when he is still tired from patrolling."

"Eh, I need my beauty sleep. He can't stop all of us."

Yunho stood behind a big pillar, listening to them and sighed, turning around to the opposite direction of the main hall. Yunho hopped on the balcony and jumped to a nearby branch and proceeded to do that until he was near the main hall and hopped down to the balcony outside of the main hall. He brushed off his pants and hands before straightened up and walked into the main hall quietly.

Yunho faltered for a second when he was met up with a group of elves that he didn't recognize staring at him when he entered the main hall before he composed himself and walked ahead to the front to meet with his father. "You seeked for me, my King?" Yunho said after he bowed down to his father and glanced at his brother who is standing next to their father, giving him a nod. "Yes. These are the royals from Fronithien, they will stay here for 3 full moons for a possible diplomatic relationship between Vanithien and Fronithien. I expect for you not to embarrass us with your...human traits." his father said sternly.

Yunho blushed and lowered his gaze to the ground. "I will do my best, my King." Yunho said quietly and his father nodded in satisfaction. "Now, introduce yourself." his father said and Yunho turned around to face them and bowed down. "Greetings, my Lords. I hope all of you will have a pleasant stay. I am Yunho of Vanithien, at your service." Yunho said politely with a small smile.

"Greetings, I already feel like we will have a pleasant stay here. Thank you. I'm Hongjoong, King of Fronithien. This is my husband, Seonghwa. My first born and next in line to the throne, Mingi. My second born, San and his husband, Wooyoung. Lastly, my third born, Jongho and his husband, Yeosang." Hongjoong said before the King gasped, astonished, making everyone looked over to him.

"Your husband is blessed by the Valar? To be able to bear children?" the King said and Hongjoong gave him a smile, nodding his head. "Yes. Although none of my children are blessed with it, nor are their husbands." Hongjoong said and the King hummed in understanding before he glanced at Yunho for a second making the half-elf bowed his head down. "King Seojoon, I've been wondering why did you introduced us to this half-elf? Is he meant to be our servant for the rest of the stay?" Hongjoong asked politely.

"Ah, not exactly, but if you want him to serve all of you, then be my guest. He is my first born but he is not my heir to the throne. I wanted to make sure all of you recognize him if anything arises. He...is a bit handful." King Seojoon said, narrowing his eyes at Yunho as the elves of Fronithien looked at him with interest. "I see, pardon for my words earlier. I did not expect for you to have a half-elf elfling." Hongjoong said, bowing a little and the King waved away.

"Do not worry. I'm not angered by it. I'm sure you lots are tired from travelling, let my servants take you to your rooms. Servants! Show them to their respected rooms." King Seojoon said and the servants rushed to do as they were told. "Yunho, stay." King Seojoon said and Yunho obeyed.

"Yes, my King?" Yunho said once their guests are out of the main hall. "They are interested in making a diplomatic relationship with us." the King said and Yunho tilted his head in confusion as he already knew about that. "I want Kyungho to be the one that they choose." the King said and only then Yunho understood. "As you wish, my King." Yunho said quietly though he glanced at his brother and saw how his brother grimaced a bit.

"Do not interact with them unless they start it first. Avoid them if you can. I want as little interaction as possible between you and them. The most important thing is, do not let them know that you can bear children too. Remember where you stand, Yunho. I only took you in because your mother is dead while my dear wife had crossed the ocean and waited for me patiently. Remember that I gave you a roof to live in." King Seojoon said and Yunho had to suppress his winces at the harsh words, nodding his head.

"Dismiss." King Seojoon said and Yunho bowed before walking out of the main hall.

"You do not want the guests to know that Yunho can bear children, father? Why?" Kyungho asked after Yunho had walked out of the main hall. "Precautions. I want them to choose you rather than him. If they know about it, I'm sure they will choose Yunho over you. I can't have that. He already took your place as a firstborn. I won't let him have what I want you to have." King Seojoon said bitterly and Kyungho nodded his head though he didn't really want to marry one of them. **_I already have Eden, father. When will you realize that and let me be with him..?_** Kyungho thought sadly but for now, he will just obey his father.

\--

Yunho took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his hands in an attempt to stop it from shaking as he walked down the hall. He walked as fast as he could, going towards the trees outside of the palace and hopped on one of them once he could touch them. Yunho hopped from one tree to another until he reached a place where most of the elves avoided.

A nice clearing but a dangerous one because there are wild wolves in there that the King forbid the elves from killing them so they avoided the place to not get hurt. This is where the King had buried his mother and somehow, the wolves are nice towards Yunho and let him be in the clearing.

Yunho hopped down onto the ground once he reached the clearing and went straight to his mother's grave. He's already crying before he reached his mother's grave and flopped down next to the grave. "Hello mother.. I miss you.. I'm sorry I did not come visit you for a while.. I had to patrol the borders and I just got back last night.. Things will be hard for me after this, I think.. Should I just stay in the forest until they leave? I can go back to my room after midnight.. I don't want to be punished again just because they talk to me.. The pain from the previous punishment still hurts sometimes.." Yunho said and wiped his tears away. 

"I wish you’re still here with me.. I still miss you.. Even if I'm 1021 years old already.." Yunho said, chuckling a bit. Yunho lies on the ground, looking up at the sky and closes his eyes.

"A little nap won't hurt.." Yunho mumbled and hummed a song, lulling him to sleep.


	2. Chapter 1

Yunho groggily sat up and whimpered a bit when he felt his head ache.  **_I should stop napping in the middle of the day.. It always ends up with me having a headache.._ ** Yunho thought as he stretched his body and paled when he realized that his 'little' nap had caused him to be late for his practice. Yunho cursed and ran to the practice field in haste that he stumbled a few times caused by the tree roots and nearly fell, letting his human traits come out in his panicked state.

Yunho grimaced inwardly when he found his trainer glared at him once he arrived at the field.

"What is your excuse for your tardiness, penneth(young one)?"

"None, Lord Heroth.."

"I'm not having that. You usually won't be this late unless something happened. I need to know why so that I can give you the proper punishment."

"......I overslept..."

Yunho bit his lips when Heroth sighed and he dreaded what his punishment would be as he stood there with his hands at his back and his gaze lowered to the ground. "I can't help you with this one, penneth. You have 2 punishments now as the King had told me to give you one." Heroth said wistfully. He never liked giving punishment to the young half-elf but he can't oppose his King. Yunho widened his eyes at Heroth's words.  **_A punishment from father..? But I didn't do anything...?_ ** Yunho thought.

"My lord? A punishment from the King? What did I do wrong?" Yunho asked quietly. "Apparently the young elves that went with you to patrol our borders told the King that you were trying to seduce the Leader of our Royal Guards for the whole month." Heroth explained. "I did not seduce Lord Eden." Yunho sighed but he knew his father wouldn't believe him. "What will my punishment be?" Yunho asked.

"You will undergo practice for 6 hours straight everyday for 1 week and since you were late for 3 hours, you will get whip 3 times for 1 week after practice." Heroth said and Yunho can't help but to gape at his trainer. "6 hours straight? In the middle of summer?" Yunho said, perplexed before he sighed quietly as he knew his father would do something like this. Using his weakness or what the elves said as 'human traits' as a punishment. An elf can withstand any weather longer than humans can so they don't really have any problem being too long in the cold or under the scorching hot sun. They can endure any uncomfortable weather up to 24 hours before they finally feel a little uncomfortable by it.

For a half-elf like Yunho? Being outside for 6 hours straight in the middle of summer is downright torture. Not to mention he has to practice while at it. The punishment for his tardiness was not so bad but it will still leave him in pain for several hours as half-elf heals slower. A combination of both punishments?  **_Valar.. Please help me endure everything.._ ** Yunho thought anxiously.

"I'm sorry penneth, I tried reasoning with the King but you know how stubborn he is. He told me that the punishment is considered light for you and that you should be thankful for it." Heroth said, giving a little pat on Yunho's shoulder. "Come, penneth. Let's start your practice. It's going to be dark when we finish." Heroth said as he walked to the middle of the field with Yunho trudging beside him.

After the practice, they went to the armory, putting back the weapons that they used for the practice. Yunho anxiously stood there and waited for Heroth to carry out his punishment. Heroth sighed as he took a long and thick whip that the King had specified for Yunho only and walked to where Yunho was waiting for him. "I'm sorry penneth.. 2 of the King's guards are here to watch you so that I would carry out the punishment properly and since they had heard that you have another punishment, they will watch it too so they can report back to the King.." Heroth said as the guards walked into the armory and stood a few feet away from Yunho and Heroth.

Yunho pursed his lips and nodded his head, getting down on his knees and took off his tunic. Yunho took a deep breath and clenched his eyes shut as he heard Heroth pull up his hand in the air with the whip in his grip. Yunho bit his lips and gripped his pants when the whip found its way on his back and he had to bite back any whimpers when Heroth didn't stop and whipped him for another 2 times, continuously.

"I will see you tomorrow, penneth. Please don't be late again." Heroth said as he helped Yunho with his tunic and hauled up the shaking half-elf. "Y-yes, Lord Heroth." Yunho mumbled and he slowly made his way to his room, gritting his teeth to block out any whimpers from his mouth as every step hurts his back.

\--

Yunho woke up with a massive headache. 

Today is his 5th day of punishment and he can't even sleep on his back since 2 days ago because of the wounds on his back, the result of his punishment for being late to practice. He can't sleep properly as the wounds would sting from time to time making his wounds unable to heal normally. Elves need sleep to heal faster and because Yunho is a half-elf, his healing traits are slower than others and it became even more slower because Yunho can’t sleep.

His father's punishment is getting harder too as it's getting hotter by the day and Yunho always ends up sweating so much that his tunic feels like a second skin and he can barely function after the 6 hours practice. He always ends up falling asleep right after showering without eating his dinner and he would find himself jolted out of his sleep in the middle of the night for a few times because his back wounds flared up. 

Their guests also make Yunho struggle to avoid them as they would always stop by the practice field and spars with each other near Yunho. They also had proposed to spar with Yunho a few times and Yunho just can't reject them so he found himself sparring with one of them occasionally. The guards had told the King about what happened at the practice field and the King was not happy and thought that Yunho had persuaded them to come visit and spar with him so the guests cannot spend time with Kyungho more.

Yunho whimpered when his back wounds flared up again and he had to stop moving completely until the pain vanished.  **_Today will be a long day..._ ** Yunho thought, gritting his teeth and stood up to get ready for the day. He went to the kitchen for breakfast as his father forbade him to eat in the diner hall with him and Kyungho so he would always have his meal in the kitchen instead or he brought his meal back to his room.

"I'm sorry Lord Yunho, but the King has forbidden us to give you any meal for today." the cook said sadly and Yunho blinked several times before nodding his head. "....I see.. It's alright then.." Yunho said quietly and he walked out of the kitchen and headed to the clearing. He spent his morning petting the wild wolves while talking about anything that he had in his mind to his mother's grave, trying to ignore his stomach that was pleading for food.

\--

**_My head hurts... It's so hot today... I can't even concentrate and my back stings.._ ** Yunho thought hazily as he took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on what Heroth was saying to him. "Penneth? Concentrate." Heroth said but he frowned when Yunho seemed pensive and only nodded his head after a few seconds. "Do you need a break, Yunho? You can take a 5 minutes break under the tree if you want. It's very hot today and I know how uncomfortable it is for you." Heroth said softly, calling Yunho by his name to see how Yunho would respond as he rarely called him that and would only use it if it's very important.

Yunho frowned and blinked slowly but before he could answer, Kyungho and Eden came over to the practice field and went straight to their guests that were sparring near Yunho and Heroth. Kyungho talked to them and after a few minutes, he shouted at Heroth and Yunho. "Heroth! Yunho! Come see me spar with Lord Mingi here!" Kyungho said and Heroth nodded his head before he dragged Yunho to a nearby tree. Eden and the other guests except for Mingi had gone to them too to watch in a safe distance.

They all started watching Mingi and Kyungho while Yunho did his best to concentrate on watching them but he had to blink a few times as his vision keeps blurring. Yunho whimpered softly when his head throb violently and clutch at it weakly. "Penneth?" Heroth said, frowning when he heard how rapid and shallow Yunho's breathing is. Eden too had heard it and glanced at Yunho, frowning in worry. Yunho had moved from clutching his head to cupping his mouth as he felt his nausea climbing and he felt like throwing up.

After a while, the nausea subsided a little but Yunho is now struggling to stay conscious as he felt very lightheaded. He isn't even aware that Heroth had spoken to him a while ago. Seonghwa and Yeosang also had realized that something was wrong with Yunho as they kept glancing at the half-elf in worry. They had become good friends with the half-elf and adored him even if it's only been less than a week.

They were engrossed in watching the sparring duo when Yunho can't keep himself up and conscious any longer as he staggered for a bit before collapsing to the ground. Heroth and Eden shouted "YUNHO!" in unison as Heroth grabbed Yunho before he fell to the ground completely as Eden rushed to their side making Kyungho and Mingi stop their sparring while the others looked over to Yunho in shock.

"What happened?" Eden said as he crouched down next to the unconscious half-elf that is being held by Heroth. "He was acting weird a while ago before you and Kyungho came here. I think the heat got to him. He had been practicing for 5 hours and he still has one more hour to practice." Heroth said, making their guests gasp in horror.

"6 hours of practice in the middle of summer for a half-elf?" Seonghwa asked, perplexed by what Heroth had told them. "We thought that he practiced here everyday for about 2 to 3 hours only, not 6." San said, furrowing his eyebrows at Heroth. "He is currently undergoing a punishment from the King." Heroth said as he looked down sadly at Yunho.

"I also had been giving him a punishment everyday after practice because he was late to the practice 5 days ago.." Heroth said quietly. Mingi and Seonghwa had crouched down near Yunho as Mingi pressed a hand on Yunho's forehead and neck. "What kind of punishment?" Seonghwa asked as he watched Mingi who was checking over Yunho with a slight frown on his face.

"3 whips on his back for 1 week." Heroth said and the others nodded their head as that is somewhat a light punishment among elves. "I did not want to give the punishment since 3 days ago because his back has not healed but the King guards were present thus I have to do it because if I don't then the King would give Yunho a more heavy punishment." Heroth explained further. This however made Mingi and Seonghwa widen their eyes in shock before Mingi barked out some orders.

"Back off and give him some space! Get me some water and a few cotton cloths. NOW!" Mingi said as he took Yunho off from Heroth as Seonghwa helped him with removing Yunho's tunic and practice boots. San, Jongho, Yeosang and Wooyoung scramble to go get the stuff while Hongjoong, Eden and Heroth stay standing near them and Kyungho watches Yunho with a frown on his face.

The King guards suddenly came to them and they kicked Yunho lightly in distaste. "Wake him up. He still has one hour left to do his punishment or we will report to the King that he did not finish it." One of the guards said, making Mingi furious.  **_Can't they see he fainted? Is this how a half-elf is being treated here?_ ** Mingi thought.

"Lord Yunho is having a heat stroke and this could be fatal to him. I will forbid him from any strenuous activity in this hot weather. Since he collapsed right in front of me, he is now considered my patient as I won't left him untreated." Mingi said sternly to the guards and smirked slightly as the two guards paled. They thought that the guests are not fond of the half-elf either.

"But-"

"Leave. I give Lord Mingi permission to treat my brother. Tell my father that." Kyungho said and the 2 guards bowed down before leaving. Mingi huffed before he concentrated on Yunho again. "We need to get him inside." Mingi said as he hauled Yunho up gently and walked to the armory. Mingi pursed his lips, thinking on how he should do this so that Yunho won't be in too much pain. "What's wrong ion-nin(my son)?" Seonghwa said, tilting his head as Mingi is still holding Yunho in his arms.

"If I put him on the ground, it will hurt his back further. I think his back is bleeding as I can feel it on my arm. I'm thinking on how should I do this without hurting him." Mingi said softly before he decided to just sit on the floor and hold Yunho in his arms with Yunho's chest leaning onto his arm, exposing his back. Everyone grimaced when they saw Yunho's bleeding back. "He is not healing.. Why is he not healing?" Kyungho asked.

"Yunho had told me that he cannot really sleep last night when I asked him this afternoon because he looked tired." Heroth said quietly, making Kyungho tilt his head. "Why?" Kyungho asked and Heroth could only shrug. "He did not tell me the reason, penneth." Heroth said, making Kyungho sigh softly.

"We have the items." Jongho said as the other 3 followed him inside, holding the said items. Mingi and Seonghwa then proceed in taking the cloth and wet it with the water before applying it to Yunho's nape, neck and chest. "I also brought some water for him to drink." San said and Mingi smiled at him, nodding his head. "Thank you, we will have him drink it when he is awake." Mingi said.

"Both of you seems like an expert in handling this." Kyungho said, gesturing to Mingi and Seonghwa. "Oh, it's because they do. My husband and my first born is blessed with an amazing healing knowledge and gift. My husband usually will stay in the healing ward while my first born will help him when he is not on a patrol duty." Hongjoong explained with a smile. "Ahh, I see." Kyungho said, nodding his head.

MIngi and Seonghwa kept wetting Yunho's upper body until the half-elf stirred, 10 minutes later. "Easy, my lord." Mingi said softly when Yunho started to pull himself away when he realized that he had been leaning on someone. "L-lord Mingi..? W-what happened...?" Yunho slurred weakly. "You fainted from a heat stroke, my lord." MIngi explained.

"F-forgive me.. I t-tried to endure it.." Yunho said, his breathing is still somewhat shallow. "It's not your fault, you cannot help it and it's alright. Drink this my lord, we need to cool your body down." Mingi said softly as he helped Yunho to drink the water. "Heroth..? H-how many hours l-left?" Yunho asked after he had downed the water. Heroth frowned before he sighed. "You have one more hour, penneth but Lord Mingi here had told us that you can't do any strenuous activity until you are well again." Heroth said.

"B-but.. t-the king's p-punishment.." Yunho mumbled. "It's fine brother. I will deal with it." Kyungho said and Yunho flinched when he heard him as he was not expecting for him to be there. "Are y-you sure..? I d-don’t want to b-bring more t-trouble.." Yunho said and winced when Mingi pressed a cloth onto the wounds on his back. "Forgive me, I have to clean this to prevent it from any infection." Mingi said softly while Kyungho assured Yunho that it will be fine.

Yunho felt lightheaded again and he weakly leaned his head on Mingi's shoulder making Mingi worry about the half-elf's well-being. "Lord Yunho? Can we do this in the healing room so I can treat your wounds properly? You also need a cool bath and rest." Mingi said and Yunho shook his head weakly as Kyungho spoke. "My father forbade him to be in the healing ward. Even if you take him there, our healer won't treat him or let you use anything as my father had forbidden them to."

"What? Why?" Seonghwa said, perplexed. "Because my father is not fond of my brother and only took him in because his mother died." Kyungho explained and it only made the others more confused. "He does not want Yunho to wander around after his mother died, afraid that Yunho would gather an army and try to take his place as King. I don’t know why he thinks like that so I cannot answer you if you ask." Kyungho explained further after he had sensed the confusion.

"My lord.. You should not say those things if you want to help your father in maintaining a good relationship with them.." Eden said slowly. "They should know the truth is all I'm trying to say." Kyungho said, shrugging his shoulders.  **_And maybe Mingi wouldn't want to marry me_ **

"I...see.. Can I treat him in his room then? Or is it also forbidden to do so?" Mingi asked and Kyungho shook his head. "His room is fine." Kyungho said and Mingi nodded his head, hauling Yunho up by the waist, chest to chest as he held Yunho's thighs to hold him up. "M-my lord! I c-can walk by m-myself." Yunho protested and was about to wiggle his way out from Mingi's hold. "Let me, my lord. You cannot push yourself too hard and as your healer at the moment, you cannot refuse me." Mingi said making Yunho pout.

"This is for your well-being, my lord. I don’t like seeing you like this. Please?" Mingi said softly and Yunho sighed, nodding his head. "Alright.." Yunho said and Mingi pulled his head gently towards his shoulder and Yunho could only obey and lay his head completely on Mingi's shoulder as they walked to his room. 


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm late about this, but I crossposted all of my stories in [wattpad.](https://www.wattpad.com/user/angel_youngmi)
> 
> Feel free to scream at me there too if you want ^_^

**_I am going to be in so much trouble later.._ ** Yunho thought as he stared at Mingi who had been going into his bathroom back and forth with 2 bowls in his hands and some kind of herbs which made Yunho wonder where he got it because they didn't stop somewhere before coming to his room. It's not helping when the others left him and Mingi alone half-way making Yunho had to blearily give Mingi the way to his room while his head is still pounding.

"What is on your mind, my lord?" Mingi questioned Yunho as he put down the 2 bowls on the small table near Yunho's bed. "Huh?" Yunho replied as his mind is still hazy making Mingi chuckled a little as he takes out his medical supplies in his small bag which he brings with him everywhere. "You seemed to have something in your mind. Do you want to tell me about it?" Mingi asked softly as he sat next to Yunho on the bed and motioned for the half-elf to turn around so his back was facing the heir.

"I wasn't supposed to talk to any of you guys.." Yunho whispered softly but Mingi heard him anyway as he carefully tended to Yunho's back wounds.

"Why is that?"

"Because the king said so. I will be in trouble after this for today.."

Mingi frowned at the devastated voice coming from Yunho. "I don't really understand, do you mind telling me the reason why you would be in trouble just because you talked to us today?" Mingi questioned, resulting in Yunho biting his lips before he blurted out the truth. "The king doesn't want you to choose me in the diplomatic marriage because I'm not the heir. To prevent it, the King forbid me to talk with you guys unless you guys started it first." Yunho explained right before he cupped his mouth in shock.

"I shouldn't have said that. Why can't I control my mouth just now..?" Yunho whispered, frowning a bit before Mingi chuckled softly. "I'm sorry my lord, that would be my doing." Mingi confessed sheepishly making Yunho whipped his head towards Mingi. "What? What do you mean by that, my lord?" Yunho stared at Mingi, his eyes wide while the latter gave him a slight smirk before speaking.

"I am blessed with a little bit of magic which I can use whenever I want to. Usually I use it on my patients so they would tell me the truth about their pain and such but I do sometimes use it on people who I found suspicious or so." Mingi said. "I'm suspicious..?" Yunho confusedly tilted his head with a slight frown on his face. "No, my lord. I found your King suspicious. I'm sorry that I made you blurt out those things though but at least now I understand a little bit more about your King." Mingi chuckled as he explained it to Yunho.

"A-are you going to cancel the diplomatic relationship..? P-please don't! You should not believe me so much, I'm just a mere half-elf.. Nothing so good about me.." Yunho stuttered out as he feared that the King would have his head if the diplomatic relationship was canceled because of him.

"It doesn't have to be a marriage you know? We can still have diplomatic relationships with other things such as resources or education. A half-elf is still an elf so don't be so harsh with yourself. Just because you have some human traits, that doesn't mean that you're less than a purebred elf and I did not say these things just to make you feel better. I know how good your elf-side is even though we have only known each other for less than a week." Mingi said as he put a little bit of his magic on Yunho's back wounds so it won't pain the half-elf so much.

"H-how so? We only met at the practice field.. You did not see my full clumsy self yet.." Yunho murmured, blushing at Mingi's words as no one ever told him that. "I'm looking forward to seeing that side too and I promise you that I will not judge." Mingi assured him as he stood up from the bed to fetch a glass of water for the half-elf to drink. "Now, you have to rest. Drink plenty of water and food to regain your energy back." The healer said while he packed his things that he wasn't aware how Yunho had subtly grimaced, pursing his lips at the word food.  **_I don't know when I will be able to eat again though.._ **

"I w-will. Thank you, my lord. I'm sorry I took your time and troubled you in tending my wounds.." Yunho muttered softly, sipping on his water and Mingi might melted a bit as he watched the half-elf being cute just by drinking some water. "It's alright. It wasn't a problem at all, my lord. I'm simply doing my job as a healer. You can have a bath in 1 hour as the salve will dry by that time. If you need anything from me or your wounds troubled you again, my room is just at the end of this hall."

Yunho gaped at him.

"W-what? Your room is near here..? Did they not put all of you at the other wing..?" Yunho stammered as he had a bad feeling about this.  **_Did father do this so I would make mistakes and he could punish me further..?_ ** he thought as Mingi shrugged, "I was confused at first too but they told me that my room is in this wing while my other family is on the other wing. It doesn't bother me much though." 

"Usually they will put all the guests near Kyungho's room on the other wing. I do not know why my fa- the king put you here though.. I'm sorry.. Should I ask Kyungho so you could be at the same wing with your family?"

"It's alright, you don't have to do that. I'm fine being here. Get some rest, my lord. I'll be in my room." Mingi said as he bowed to Yunho and went to his room.

"What are you trying to do father..? I really don't understand your intentions at all.." Yunho whispered as he lay down on the bed on his side slowly.

\--

"My king? May I ask why did you put Lord Mingi near Lord Yunho's room? I thought you wanted the heir of Fronithien to marry Lord Kyungho so shouldn't you put Lord Mingi near Lord Kyungho?" one of King Seojoon's advisor asked.

"So I could punish Yunho more and maybe I will finally be able to break him. I've tried for hundred years but that half-elf of mine is still going strong. I hate it. If I don't get to break him, then he will surely try to take my throne away from me and Kyungho. I can't let him do that. I must break him." King Seojoon sneered with his eyes full of hatred, "The diplomatic relationship was just one of the excuses that I find helpful for me to execute my plan."

"Why do you always think that Lord Yunho will take your throne away? Did he tell you that, my King? I'm very curious about this."

King Seojoon narrowed his eyes at the advisor and everyone in the room can see how the veins in the King's neck jutting out and throbbing, "Oh, he didn't tell me anything. It was his mother who did. The human told me that her son will take away my throne because I did not deserve it after what I did to her and that she will make sure that Yunho will have the throne."

"Do you think Lord Yunho will do it?"

"He loves his mother, of course he will. That's why I have to break him so he would not do it." King Seojoon smirked, looking down at his nails as he scoffed, "Besides, my heir is in love with his personal bodyguard, I won't let the heir of Fronithien marry him anyway. I won't be cruel to my heir, if he wants to marry his bodyguard then I will let him do so but don't tell them that."

"What if the heir of Fronithien fell in love with Lord Kyungho?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, I saw how he looked at Yunho since that brat came into the hall on the day they arrived. I'm pretty much sure who the heir of Fronithien prefers."

\--

Yunho huffed as he pressed his hand on his growling stomach. He had not eaten since yesterday but luckily he was exempted from his punishment today so he had been in his room all day. He still can leave his room but he thought it was better for him to stay.  **_I won't be able to fight my way out if some of the elves decide to beat me today.._ **

Yunho was lying on his stomach when he heard a soft knock on his door hours later and whined a bit as he felt very lazy and weak at the moment to move. Yunho opted to use his voice instead, "Who is it?" he shouted and winced when his head throbbed over his own voice. 

"It's Mingi, my lord."

Yunho cursed silently, stumbling out of his bed in haste and went to open the door. "Lord Mingi! C-can I help you? Do you need anyth-" Yunho's vision blurred as he sway dangerously before he can finish his words and Mingi is quick to hold the half-elf by the waist before he falls flat on the floor. Yunho blinked until he got his vision back and realized that he was sitting on his bed with a very worried Mingi sitting next to him and Jongho who was holding a tray of food near him and the bed.

Yunho was about to speak but Mingi had cupped his face and pulled it towards him, examining Yunho's eyes before planting 2 fingers at his neck, feeling his pulse. "Muindor(Brother), I'll put this here. I need to get back to Yeosang in the library or he will have a tantrum if I am gone for too long. Lord Yunho, I hope you will feel better. I'll be going," Jongho bowed to Yunho before walking out of the room to go find his husband.

"When did you last ate, my lord?" Yunho pursed his lips at Mingi's question as he didn't want the healer to know how his father treated him. Yes, even though his father hates him, Yunho still sees him as his father and loves him, always wishing that his father will one day love him as a son like Kyungho.

"My lord, I already know that the King forbade you to eat in the eating hall and that he forbade you to eat since yesterday but your body told me that you had not eaten longer than 1 day. Please answer my question." Mingi sighed softly, waiting for the half-elf to answer him and his heart beats a little bit faster than normal when Yunho's eyes widen for a second before he pouts, lowering his gaze to his hands on his lap. 

"...2 days ago.. How did you know that the King forbade me to eat?" He mumbled while playing with his fingers, refusing to look at the healer. "I asked him as I didn't see you at breakfast and lunch today. I thought that you just ate earlier before but I know that you won't be doing anything for today, so when I didn't see you at the hall, I asked the King about it."

"Did he tell you the reason?"

"Yes, to both actually. Why?"

"I kind of don't know the reason for yesterday.."

"Ah, it's a little bit ridiculous to me though. He told me that you were slacking on your punishment. The guards told him that you rest longer than 10 minutes when the supposed time was 5 minutes. I wanted to retort but my ada(father) stopped me." Mingi explained with a little frown on his face.

"...I see.."

Mingi sighed as he watched how Yunho's face fall and stood up from the bed, retrieving the tray full of food that Jongho had put on the table. "Enough about the King. You need to eat. Do you want me to feed you?" Mingi smirked a little when he saw how Yunho blushed at his playful attempt to cheer the half-elf up. "N-no! I'm c-capable of eating this myself." Yunho stuttered, picking up the tray from Mingi's lap and put it on his lap.

Mingi watched Yunho eat silently with a fond look on his face.  **_He's very cute. I can watch him all day like this._ ** Mingi thought before he shook his head when he realized how creepy his thoughts were making Yunho look at him with a slight tilt of his head while munching on his bread and cheese. "Are you alright, my lord?" Yunho said after he had swallowed his food and Mingi nodded his head sheepishly.

"Can I take a look at your back after you finished eating? I want to put some more salves on it so it will heal faster." Mingi changed the subject before Yunho could interrogate him further. The half-elf narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Mingi before giving up and nodding his head as he continued to eat his food slowly.

"It's healing nicely. Your back will be free of scars in a week." Yunho hummed gratefully as Mingi gently put another healing salves on his back wounds. "Thank you, Lord Mingi. I would still be in pain right now if you are not here.." Yunho sighed as the pain began to diminish again. Mingi was silent as he tended to Yunho's back and Yunho frowned a bit when Mingi didn't answer him just now but he kept quiet because he thought that Mingi might be concentrating on tending his wounds.

"L-lord Mingi? Did I say something to o-offend you somehow..?" Yunho blurted after a full 15 minutes of awkward silence between them, turning around to face Mingi right after Mingi stopped touching his back. Yunho frowned when Mingi looked at him while biting his lips before it turned into a pout. "Lord Mingi? Ar-" Yunho started before Mingi cut him off, "Don't call me that." 

"...M-my lord..?"

"That's better."

"You don't want me to call you by your name..?"

"No! I don't want you to call me 'Lord Mingi'. Just 'Mingi' is fine. 'My lord' is better."

"Alright..? May I ask why..?"

Mingi sighed softly. He looked at Yunho, giving the half-elf a small smile. "Because I want to be friends with you. Using 'Lord' is too formal for me. I want to get to know you better and I hope that you're fine with it?" Mingi chuckled a bit when Yunho blushed bright red, "O-oh.. A-alright. It's f-fine with m-me." He stammered before he frowned when he remembered what his father had told him before.

"B-but I don't think this is a good idea, my lord.."

"And why is that?" Mingi tilted his head.

"...T-the King..." Yunho said quietly. "Ah.. Well.. Is it too much if I say that I will try to protect you from him?" Mingi pondered, looking at Yunho with determination. Yunho bit his lips as he thought it over.  **_It would be nice.. Should I..? I've never felt this way before.._ ** Yunho thought and nodded his head shyly after a few moments eliciting a big smile from Mingi making Yunho choke on his spit.

"Are you alright, my lord?" Mingi said as he watched Yunho worriedly. He can't touch the half-elf's back to give comfort or help with his coughing fit because of the salves and it would be far too soon for him to be touching his chest so the only thing he could do was watch and ask Yunho if he's alright.

"Y-yes. I'm alright." Yunho croaked after the fit was over, still blushing madly and looked over to Mingi who gave him a smile.

**_Will I survive though? What is this feeling? Why do I feel weird inside?_ ** Yunho thought while taking a deep breath before he heard the tree outside of his balcony sing to him. Yunho tilted his head and motioned for Mingi to be quiet as he listened to the tree.

"My lord? Your naneth(mother) is searching for you. He is downstairs near the courtroom. Do you want me to tell your naneth to wait there for you?" Yunho said and asked Mingi after a few moments of him listening to the tree. Mingi tilted his head in confusion, "How will you do that? I mean I heard what the tree said too but how will you tell my naneth though?" Mingi asked and Yunho gave him a kitty smile before he sang softly and Mingi could hear the tree outside rustled.

Mingi gaped in awe when he could hear the tree sings back to Yunho that they would tell Seonghwa to wait for him there. "Y-you can communicate with them?" Yunho nodded shyly. "Yes though I'm the only one who can do that here. I never found someone that can communicate with them yet."

"Me either. It's very rare to be blessed with it. You're very lucky."

Yunho blushed. "S-stop it. My face is about to burst. Y-you should go, my lord. I don't want your naneth to have to wait for you for too long."

Mingi huffed softly, nodding his head and stood up from the bed as Yunho escorted him to the door. "I'll come by again later. If you don't mind?" Mingi asked and Yunho nodded his head, "I won't be going anywhere anytime soon so you know where to find me."

Mingi smiled and left to find Seonghwa while Yunho went back to his bed and plopped down on his stomach giggling quietly before he frowned as he thought about his father.

**_Will I be fine..? I don’t want father to hurt Mingi though.. What should I do..? Should I stay away? But I’ve already promised Mingi that we could be friends.. Naneth… What should I do..?_ **

Yunho sighed, closing his eyes as he pondered over and over again.

****


	4. Chapter 3

Yunho jerked awake from his sleep when he heard a loud knock on his door. From the sound of it, it must be from one of the royal guards, specifically his father's because it's only them that will knock on his door like they wanted to tear it down. Yunho sighed, rubbing his eyes with his fists and trudge to the door sleepily.

"Yes?" Yunho mumbled, looking at the guard sleepily. "The King summoned you to the main hall. Lord Mingi had told him that you are healed completely and he wishes to see you now." Yunho blinked a few times to get rid of the sleepiness and nodded his head at the guard, "I'll be there."

Yunho closed the door and yawned. It has been a week and his back is healed, thanks to Mingi's magic and salves.  **_Can't even let me be for more than a week.. I miss it when I'm free to stroll around when naneth(mother) is still alive.._ ** Yunho sighed while getting ready to go and meet his father in the main hall. He put on a casual tunic and made sure that his hair is not in disarray before walking out of his room and went straight to the main hall.

Yunho halted for a bit when he saw that their guests were in the main hall too.  **_I think I've experienced this before.._ ** Yunho thought before bowing a little to their guests which they all reciprocated and he went to the front, meeting his father.

"Yunho."

Yunho bowed before answering, "Yes, my king?"

"Since you are healed, I have a new duty for you."

Yunho sighed subtly, already expecting it and nodded his head quietly.

"I received some reports a few days ago from the west guards. About 200 orcs were sighted near our west border but they did not try to breach the border yet. I want you to execute all of them. We can't have orcs strolling near our borders."

"Yes, my king. Who will I be going with? Or are you sending me alone?" Yunho asked and he hoped that the king wouldn't be sending him all alone to fight with 200 orcs. He might be good at fighting but 200 orcs? He doesn't think that he can fight with all of them and get out of it unscathed.

"I will send 5 elves with you, Garreth, Aerovan, Jun, Fynn and Cael. Lord Mingi, Lord San and Lord Jongho will also accompany you as they are the top 3 warriors in Fronithien and voluntered to go help us." King Seojoon smirked as he announced the names that would accompany Yunho and he smirked became more apparent when he caught Yunho grimaced.  **_Being with your 'Lord Mingi' out in the wild without me watching your every movement and your monthly cycle is coming in the next few days would be a great way for Lord Mingi to fuss over you more and maybe will finally confess to you. I'll be able to punish you once they go back to Fronithien._ **

Yunho pursed his lips in a thin line but nodded his head to the king.  **_Father is doing this on purpose.. He doesn't want the Fronithien elves to know that I am blessed by the Valar to have children yet he sends me away with them when he knows that my monthly cycle is coming.. Of course elves won't bleed like normal women and I'm thankful that my monthly cycle is of elf rather than human but it will still be painful with the cramps.. Not to mention that I would be weaker than normal until it is gone.. I must hide it so the Lords wouldn't notice.._ ** Yunho sighed subtly and waited for his father to give more orders.

"I prefer if all of you can start as soon as possible. Would tonight be alright?" King Seojoon asked the 3 Fronithien Lords and they gave him a smile, nodding their head in unison. "We can do that. We can leave after dinner." Mingi said after he had a quick look from his brothers and the King smiled in satisfaction.

"Tonight it is then. All of you are dismissed and I'll see you at the dining hall tonight. Yunho, please stay for a moment." Seojoon said and the Fronithien elves bowed before heading out of the main hall as Yunho watched Mingi anxiously until his father cleared his throat, making Yunho turn around and face his father.

"I hope you still remember what I told you when they first came here, Yunho." Seojoon said with a stern face, hiding his smirk as best as he can. "I do but why are you doing this, my king..? You knew that my monthly cycle is coming in a few days yet you let them come with me.." Yunho retorted softly, his gaze on the floor as he didn't want to be seen as being very rude to the king.

"They volunteered before I can say much so I had no choice but to let them or they will be more suspicious and I don't want that. I really want this diplomatic relationship to happen, Yunho and I don't want anyone to ruin it. Especially you just because you can't control your weakness." Seojoon said while glaring at Yunho making the half-elf squirm uncomfortably, biting on his lower lips feeling ashamed.

"I apologize, my king.. I will do my best to not let them know about it." Yunho muttered making the king smirked as he knew it would be impossible as he had seen it before how the monthly cycle weakened his half-elf son. "Please do as I don't want them to know about it at all or you will be severely punished. You are dismissed and don't even bother to eat today. You can eat in the wild."

Yunho bowed and left the main hall, walking to his room with his shoulders slumped.

\--

**_Warm cotton cloth can help with the cramps but then I need to warm the cloth over the fire first. How can I warm it without being suspicious..? The fire would be in the middle of the camp.. I just hope this one won't be a bad one because I still need to kill the orcs.. Valar.. Give me strength to kill the orcs when my monthly cycle comes.._ **

Yunho flopped down on his bed, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down as he could feel his anxiety rising. He tapped on his cheeks and started to gather his things as they would be out in the wild for around 2 weeks to patrol the west border and make sure that all the orcs are killed.

Yunho checked his weapons, the arrows and 2 knives, making sure all of them are sharp enough and the bow in good condition before putting them neatly beside his packsack. He went to his balcony and sat on the stone chair, sighing softly while looking at the scenery. He closed his eyes and started singing softly making the trees nearby flutter their leaves softly as they hummed in sync with Yunho's singing.

\--

"Alright, the horses are ready." Eden whispered to himself as he pat one of the horses closest to him when Yunho arrived at the stable. "Eden? What are you doing here? I was just about to prepare the horses but it looks like you already did." Yunho smiled a little and went to his own horse, a golden champagne wild horse, well, used to be a wild horse but Yunho found him injured years ago while on patrol and had treated him. The horse won't part with Yunho since then.

Yunho laughed when his horse pawed softly, looking at him excitedly after seeing Yunho entered the stable. "Hello Glor, did you miss me?" Yunho whispered while patting his forehead. Glor huffed softly, rubbing his cheek on Yunho's head eliciting a giggle from the half-elf.

"I wanted to make sure everything is fine with the horses as I won't be coming with all of you. Just wanted to ease your duty for a bit." Eden said as he helped Yunho tie his packsack on Glor. "The king won't be happy if he knew that you helped me with my duty." Yunho looked at Eden with a small amused smile that made Eden chuckle. "Well, no one saw me so you'll be fine." Yunho shook his head at Eden's answer while giggling a bit.

"Aside from the Fronithien Elves, who will be coming with you?"

"Garreth, Aerovan, Jun, Fynn and Cael."

"...I see.. I hope Garreth and Fynn won't give you a hard time."

"I doubt that.. But at least I know that the other 3 won't.. They are somewhat nice to me.." Yunho gave Eden a forced smile as the royal guard ruffled Yunho's hair.

"Trying to flirt with the prince's personal bodyguard again, half-elf?"

Yunho groaned quietly that only Eden could hear him, he rolled his eyes before turning around to face the owner of the voice. He was about to retort when Eden spoke first, "Talking is not flirting penneth(young one), I thought you would be wiser because you are already 1025 years old. Just because you are slightly older than Yunho, doesn't mean that you can belittle him everytime you see him. Half-elf or not, he is the firstborn of our king and one of the princes too."

Garreth paled a little as Eden rarely reprimanded them whenever they teased Yunho but Eden really had enough as he saw how Yunho seems to be stressing a lot lately. "Why are you here Lord Eden? Are you coming with us too?" Garreth asked, changing the subject as he doesn't know how to retaliate to what Eden had said.

"No I'm not penneth. I'm just going to see all of you off."

Gerreth nodded his head as he slightly glared at Yunho who was staring at him impassively. "What are you looking at?" Garreth snarled at Yunho. "Did you had a quick sex before coming here without washing yourself from the smell? Your braid is crooked too. Is that how you are presenting yourself towards the Royals of Fronithien?" Yunho impassively stared back at Garreth making the latter blushed and quickly reach for his braid, undoing it quickly and trying to braid it again.

"Shut up, I did not smell of sex."

"You're not. You reeked of it." Yunho retorted and Garreth blushed even redder. "Might do something about that before the royals come. The king won't be happy if he knew how unhygienic his elves are." Garreth gritted his teeth and rushed to a nearby well to clean himself a little and Yunho finally giggled after he had made sure Garreth won't hear him.

"Can you giggle one more time, my lord?"

Yunho widened his eyes when he heard Mingi's voice and quickly turned around, blushing for a bit as Eden smirked subtly seeing the red on Yunho's cheeks. "W-why?" Yunho asked, tilting his head cutely while trying to get rid of his blush. "I love the sound of it." Mingi answered in a heartbeat making Yunho choke on his spit. Mingi widened his eyes, rushing to Yunho and patting his back until the latter stopped his coughing fit.

"My lord?"

"Yes, my lord?"

"Do me a favor, don't say those things in front of the king. Please?"

Mingi blinked and nodded his head, "As you wish, my lord."

"Where is Lord San and Lord Jongho?"

"They'll be here in a few minutes, their husbands are making it hard for them to leave." Mingi chuckles, shaking his head as Yunho nodded his head in understanding. The 3 of them talk for a bit while waiting for the others to arrive.

\--

The first 3 days went without a hitch and they arrived at the start of the west border in no time. 

Yunho was helping everyone setting their camp for the night when the first cramp came. He stumbled a little and would have fallen on his knees if not for his quick reflexes. Yunho bit his lips to prevent himself from groaning out loud as his lower stomach cramped up. He had to sit down at one of the tree roots nearby, pulling both of his knees closer to his chest to ease the cramps for a bit and take a few slow and deep breaths while at it.

"Since you seem so free right now, how about you go and hunt for our dinner, half-elf?" Fynn raised his voice from where he was setting up his bedroll, making Yunho jump a bit as he was so focused on his cramping stomach to be alert of his surroundings. Yunho took one last deep breath before standing up and walking to his packsack to retrieve his bow and arrows as he had put them down so he could set up the camp earlier.

"Do you want me to come with you, my lord?" Mingi asked once he approached the half-elf. Yunho gave him a small smile, shaking his head at the heir. "No, it's fine. You should rest. You hunted for us yesterday. I'll be quick." Yunho said, giving Mingi another small smile before bowing a bit and rushed to one of the trees and climbed on it. He loved hunting from on top of the trees, it's easier as the trees would help him blind the wild animals so he can shoot at them easily.

Though Yunho is somewhat struggling to hunt right now. His stomach keeps on cramping and his hands start shaking so he can't aim at the rabbits properly. He groaned when his stomach cramped up again for the ninth time and gave up to shoot the rabbits as he shakily sat on the branch while pressing his hand on his lower stomach.  **_Valar.. I will never have a calm monthly cycle.. How can I hide this from Mingi?? He's a healer and I'm sure he would notice sooner or later.._ **

Yunho closed his eyes, praying hard for the cramps to ease up so he could start hunting and after whimpering and massaging his lower stomach for 10 minutes, the cramps finally stopped. Yunho huffed out a shaky breath and concentrated on hunting those rabbits now, as fast as he could before the cramping started again.

Mingi looked over to where Yunho had gone and he started to feel worried when Yunho took longer than 1 hour to hunt for their dinner. He saw how fast Yunho is with his bow and arrows and knew that the half-elf is a great hunter too. He was going to go and look for Yunho when the half-elf stumbled into their camp site with a few rabbits and dropped it near the fire.

"What took you so long? I'm famished!" Garreth snarled at Yunho making the half-elf glare at him. "Then start skinning them and cook. Do I have to do that myself too or what? You told me you hate my cooking so do you really want me to cook this rabbit now?" Yunho retorts as he is irritated with Garreth right now and the cramps in his lower stomach are not helping.

"Hey, he's older than you Yunho. Show some respect." Fynn reprimands Yunho though he is a bit scared as he never saw the half-elf lashed out at anyone before. Usually Yunho would be hiding in his room and his father would let him be because he doesn't really want other elves to know that Yunho can bear children and will have a monthly cycle every month. Only him, Kyungho and Eden know about it.

"For 4 years. That is equivalent to 4 months in human years. We're practically the same age so shut up. Stop trying to reprimand me on my every move when you yourself can't aim at a rabbit properly."

Fynn gaped at him as Garreth took the rabbits and quickly skinned them as he didn't want to deal with this Yunho because it won't end well. He heard from several elves that sometimes Yunho can be very aggressive and retort to anyone that gets on his nerves. He would also fight back when he is like that and he would win most of the time so he only would bully the half-elf when he is in his 'normal' personality.

Fynn was about to fight him when Garreth pulled him back and shook his head, giving a look at Fynn that made the latter huffed and started to help Garreth cook their dinner instead. Yunho huffed quietly and went to his bedroll, laying down on his side and sighed. His stomach had started to hurt again and he knew he wouldn't be able to eat without throwing up later. His monthly cycle is that bad and Yunho hates it with passion.

He must've dozed off because he was awoken by Mingi softly threading his fingers into Yunho's locks while calling him softly. "My lord? Wake up. You should eat something before sleeping." Yunho hummed sleepily and was about to reply when his stomach decided to be a nuisance as it cramped up again.

Yunho whimpered and pressed a hand on his lower stomach while clenching his eyes shut making Mingi put a hand on Yunho's waist, his face in a worried frown. "My lord? Are you alright?" Mingi asked and Yunho finally registered that he had whimpered in front of Mingi when he was supposed to hide his pain. "I'm alright. Just a s-small uncomfortable feeling. M-must be because I t-tripped and hit my s-stomach on one of the t-tree roots." Yunho lies and sits up from his bedroll, giving Mingi a small smile assuring that he is fine.

"Can I take a look at it? It might be serious."

Yunho paled slightly and quickly shook his head, "N-no. It's alright. I will s-seek you if it g-gets unbearable." Yunho muttered and Mingi sighed softly and nodded his head. "Alright. Let's eat, dinner is ready." Mingi said softly and they were about to go and eat their portion when everyone stopped moving as their survival instinct flared within their bodies.

"Get down!" Yunho shouted as he quickly ducked and widened his eyes slightly when he felt an arrow fly past him, nearly touching his left cheek. Yunho quickly grabbed his bow and arrows, already drawing one of the arrows and shooting to where the arrow that tried to pierced him from and all of them instantly heard a grunt with a lot of running footsteps coming towards them.

"Yrch! (Orcs!)"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, i did that u.u


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small chapter.

"Yrch! (Orcs!)" Yunho yelled out as everyone quickly readied themselves with bow and arrows or knives and swords. Yunho quickly ran to his horse and whispered to it, "Glor, get the others to safety and wait until I call you back. Go. Make sure all of them are safe." Glor neighed and did as what his master told him to do and led the other horses to safety while their masters fought the orcs.

Yunho focused on the orcs once he was sure that the horses would be fine. He shot the orcs without stopping as he looked around making sure that the 5 Fronithien's elves and the royals were fine. Yunho watched in awe as the royal brothers fought the orcs, how they are so in sync with one another, they look like they are dancing together with how graceful their movements are.

"Half-elf! Go forward! Aren't you like the best one out of us??" Garreth shrieked while cowering behind Yunho and pushed the half-elf forward. Yunho huffed in annoyance, "Oh now I'm important? Aren't you the one who always boasts around how you're so good with your bow and arrows? Then do it now rather than cowering behind my back!"

"I am not cowering! I'm taking cover! That orc was about to get me!"

"He's too far from you right now! And holding a club! He can't get you this far! Shoot him! Valar! Do I have to say it one by one on how you should fight, Garreth??"

Garreth grumbled but he knew how right the half-elf was so he took a stance and shot the orc that had scared him. Yunho rolled his eyes and ran forward while shooting the orcs non-stop before putting the bow behind his back as he was getting closer to the orcs and unsheathe his knives. Yunho flipped his knives around and went straight to the incoming orcs, slashing them open once they were within his fighting range with precise movements, never missing a single orc.

The royals gaped in awe as they watched Yunho kill around 10 orcs that came near him within seconds before they continued to kill the other orcs. Yunho keeps on focusing on the orcs that he barely feels the ache in his lower stomach, which lets him use his full strength. Mingi had come near him, fighting with him, their backs facing each other as they protected each other's blind spot while killing the orcs that had come near them.

Mingi had sync himself with Yunho's fighting style so that he could protect the half-elf making the half-elf amazed as no one ever managed to do that before and that was why Yunho had always fought alone most of the time, because no elves could match his speed, strength and his fighting style.

Until now.

Yunho didn't even have to worry about the enemy from the back as Mingi would kill them before they could even reach Yunho where Yunho always had to mind his back before because the other elves wouldn't even care about his well-being at all. There were some elves that wanted to help him, but they would end up getting injured more than Yunho.

The fight lasts for around 40 minutes until San kills the last orc with his knives. Yunho and the royals are all unscathed but the 5 Fronithien elves weren't so lucky but at least they are not dead.

"How many did everyone kill? I need it for the report." Yunho announced after his breathing returned to normal. Yunho looked over to the 5 elves as they were already standing in line, Jun, Fynn, Cael, Aerovan and Garreth so Yunho inclined his head towards them first, silently telling them to report their kills.

"42"

"21"

"38"

"44"

"...15"

Yunho raised an eyebrow towards Garreth as the elf huffed, his face red from embarrassment but being the kind half-elf he is, Yunho didn't say anything any further, turning to the royals instead. Yunho looked over to San and Jongho first as they were standing a bit further from him.

"85"

"115"

Yunho smiled, nodding his head at the 2 royals and lastly he tilted his head, looking at Mingi. "And you, my lord?" Yunho asked. "120. How about you, my lord?" Mingi said as he came closer to Yunho, inspecting him for any hidden injuries. Yunho saw Mingi's attention and giggled, dismissing Mingi's suspicion. "I'm fine, my lord, stop trying to find my non-existent injuries. I killed 132. About 600 orcs.. It's not even at the place where they had spotted the 200 orcs.. If 600 are already here.. I think there would be more when we reach the exact place where the guards found them." Yunho stated.

"Well, let me be the one to confirm if you're fine or not. I'm the healer here, my lord." Mingi smiled but Yunho knew Mingi was being serious. "I'm alright, my lord. Tend the others first. Please?" Yunho gave Mingi a small pout and the healer sigh in defeat. "Alright then."

Mingi had called the 5 elves to sit near him so he could tend to their wounds as Yunho softly called for Glor. A few minutes later, Glor and the other horses emerged from one of the trees, Glor went straight to Yunho and nudged Yunho's head with his nose. Yunho pet Glor's head before telling him to go rest and that he will brush him later.

Yunho sighed, looking around the place, grimacing at how filthy it is right now, full of orcs' corpses and their disgusting smell. They won't be staying there for the night, that's for sure. Yunho went to his bedroll, rolling it neatly and putting it inside his packsack. He was about to go and help pack Mingi's thing when the cramp made itself known once again.

By cramping to the point that Yunho stumbled before crouching down and pressing both of his hands on his lower stomach, his head on top of his knees while trying to breathe evenly. Jongho saw this and rushed to the crouching half-elf. "Lord Yunho? Are you alright?" Jongho put a gentle hand on Yunho's back, not knowing what to do as he didn't know what ailed the half-elf.

Yunho wanted to say that he's fine but his body had another plan, by giving Yunho another painful cramp and he started to feel lightheaded. The half-elf whimpered and that's the queue for Jongho to do something so he pulled Yunho up by the arms, holding him by the waist as he dragged him to Mingi.

Yunho wasn't even aware that Jongho had put him down right on top of Mingi's lap until Mingi bounced his knee a little to get comfortable. "What's wrong, my lord? You told me that you're fine." Mingi asked softly, running a gentle hand on Yunho's back. Yunho's hands are still pressing his lower stomach and when his stomach cramping up again, he whimpers, shoving his face in the crook of Mingi's neck.

"My lord? Are you with me?" Mingi frowned when Yunho didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings but Yunho nodded his head making Mingi breathe out a relief breath. "Do you want to tell me what ills you, my lord?" Yunho whimpered, shaking his head. He opened his eyes a bit and saw Garreth and Fynn looking at him with interest while the other elves including the royals were looking at him with concern on their faces.

Yunho clenched his eyes shut when his stomach cramping up again as he started to feel nauseous and the lightheaded didn't help as well. "I don't want them to know.." Yunho whispered and Mingi nodded his head, giving a look to his 2 brothers and they fortunately understood.

"Alright, we have to burn the corpses. Let's do it while my brother tends Lord Yunho." San said and the others nodded their heads, giving some privacy for both Mingi and Yunho as they started to clean up the area.

"They're gone, my lord. Now, please tell me what's wrong?" Mingi said, he already had his hand on Yunho's hands, peeling it away from the stomach so he could see if there were wounds there. Yunho tried to hold on but his strength diminished greatly making Mingi easily remove his hands from his stomach. Mingi tilted his head when he didn't see any blood on Yunho's tunic and proceeded to pull the tunic up so he could see properly.

Yunho bit his lips and sighed when Mingi looked at him questioningly. "Please keep it a secret.. No one but Kyungho, Eden and the king knew about this.." Yunho whispered and Mingi nodded his head, quietly waiting for Yunho to continue, "....I'm like your naneth(mother).."

Mingi gasped, widening his eyes at Yunho as he absorbed the new information. "Then.. You're having your monthly cycle now, am I right my lord?" Yunho nodded weakly, "It's always bad.. Usually the king would let me be but not this month I guess.."

"How bad?"

"I can't really fight when it's bad enough.. I was fortunate just now.. The cramps somewhat diminish when the orcs come and I could fight..Usually I can't even stand up straight.."

Mingi hummed while Yunho pressed his hands again on his stomach and laid his head on Mingi's shoulder, whimpering slightly. Mingi ran his hand on Yunho's back gently as he tried to remember what his naneth told him how to help someone in their monthly cycle. After thinking for a while, Mingi finally remembered what could help with Yunho's cramping.

"I know some tea that will he- My lord?" Mingi started but he stopped when Yunho cupped his mouth, silently gagging in it making Mingi pull him closer and ran a hand down his chest slowly. Yunho tried to take a few deep breaths but once he smelled the burnt corpses again, he gagged, clenching his eyes shut and shoved his head further into Mingi's neck.

"Is it the smell?" Mingi asked softly as he looked at his brothers and fellow Fronithien elves burning the orcs. Yunho nodded his head and Mingi sighed softly before calling San over.

"Yes, muindor(brother)?"

"Do all of you need more time to burn the orcs? Lord Yunho needs fresh air and we need to move anyway."

"Hm.. Maybe for another hour.."

"... I don't think Lord Yunho can wait that long.."

San tilted his head as he looked over to Yunho who had his face smashed into Mingi's neck and gave Mingi a knowing smirk making Mingi glare at his brother, mouthing 'Don't you dare'. San put his hand in a surrender gesture though he is still smirking at his brother, "How about both of you go ahead first?"

"I think of that too but will it be fine with the others?"

"They'll be fine. If they don't then I'll make them."

Mingi nodded his head and without thinking, he put an arm under Yunho's knees and another on Yunho's back and stood up. San helped with Mingi's things as they walked to Lossea, Mingi's white horse. Mingi gave Yunho to San for a bit as he got on his horse and proceeded on taking the half-elf, putting him at the front. Yunho instantly lay down his upper body on top of Lossea, hoping for the pain to lessen.

Mingi was running his hands on Yunho's back when Glor neighed loudly, coming up to them and poked Yunho with his nose, confused as why his master was on another horse. Yunho caressed Glor's head before he spoke softly, "It's better for me to ride with Lord Mingi, Glor. I know you could carry me but it's safer this way. Alright? Can you lead the way, mellon-nin(my friend)? To the riverbank ahead."

Glor neighed once again, softly this time and waited for them as San properly tied up Mingi's things on Lossea and Yunho's things on Glor.

A few minutes later, San and the others watched them quietly as they waited for the corpses to burn into ashes.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love is blossoming

Yunho and Mingi arrived at the riverbank 20 minutes later. 

Mingi had quickly got down from Lossea but he didn't move Yunho from her as he opened his packsack and took out the bedroll and set it up somewhere near. Glor had stood next to Lossea, letting the female horse to play with his mane as he stood guard for his master. Yunho had fallen asleep 5 minutes after they started walking to the riverbank, of course with the help of Mingi's magic and Mingi hoped that Yunho would still be asleep until he finished setting up their camp. 

Mingi was just about done making a campfire and preparing hot water so he could start treating Yunho when the latter whimpered on top of Lossea. Mingi whipped his head around and quickly ran to Lossea as Yunho dangerously slipped from her without him being aware of it. Glor panicked but he knew he won't be able to go to the other side in time so he bit at Yunho's tunic lightly, preventing his master from falling off of Lossea. 

"You can let go now, Glor." Mingi said softly to the horse as he held Yunho up and brought Yunho to the bedroll. Yunho curled up in a ball once Mingi had put him down, his eyes still close as he pressed his hands on his lower stomach. "My lord, do you happen to know where I can get peppermint leaves around here?" Mingi asked as he ran his hand on Yunho's lower back, his naneth(mother) had told him before that it makes them relax for a bit when someone massages their stomach or lower back. 

"Y-yes.. b-but please don't leave me a-alone right now.. I d-don't think I can d-defend myself at the moment.." Yunho mumbled, looking at Mingi with big wide eyes and a pinch of fear could be seen in his eyes. Without thinking, Mingi leaned forward and planted a kiss on Yunho's forehead making the half-elf gaped at him while his cheeks turned red. "I'm not leaving you alone, my lord. I'll go and search for the leaves once the others arrive here." 

"A-alright. T-thank you, my lord." Yunho stuttered, looking at Mingi shyly making him forget about the pain for a bit. "Why are you thanking me? It's the right thing to do." Mingi asked, still massaging Yunho's lower back making the half-elf relaxed even further. "You're the only one who is willing to do these kinds of things for me, my lord." Yunho explained softly eliciting a hum from Mingi, "I see. Well I'm glad that I'm your first then."

Yunho choked on his spit when he heard the words coming out from Mingi's mouth. Mingi frowned, quickly fetching the water flask in his packsack and helped Yunho drink the water. "Are you alright, my lord?" Yunho huffed at Mingi with his question, "Your choice of words are really a wonder, my lord. It never ceases to amaze me." 

Mingi blinked as he recalled back what he had said before chuckling lightly. "You have to get used to that then, my lord." Mingi smirked, making Yunho huff again and pout. Mingi pulled out a small cotton cloth from his packsack and went to the campfire that he had built, putting the cloth near the fire to warm it up. Yunho watched Mingi fondly, his heart started to beat faster and he widened his eyes when he realized it.  **_Oh no.. I'm.. I think I love Lord Mingi.. Valar.. What should I do...?_ **

Yunho flinched a bit when he felt a hand pressing on his stomach and belatedly realized that it was Mingi's. Mingi pulled back his hand, looking at Yunho apologetically. "I'm sorry, I thought you realized that I'm about to touch your stomach." Yunho shook his head, laying on his back properly so Mingi could treat him properly. "I zoned out, it's alright my lord. You can touch me." Mingi smiled in relief and touched Yunho's stomach again and gently massage it making Yunho moan silently as the cramps diminish slowly. 

"Better?" 

"Much better, thank you, my lord. I could never massage it like this as my hands would be like a newborn in time like this.." Yunho sheepishly said to Mingi, making the latter chuckle. "I can imagine that." Mingi then pulled a face though he still didn't stop massaging Yunho's stomach and Yunho saw that so the half-elf tilted his head, "Something bothering you, my lord? If you're not comfortable with this, you can stop. I don't mind." Yunho said with a small smile. 

Mingi quickly shook his head, giving Yunho a reassuring soft smile, "It's not you, my lord. I just don't understand your father.. Why is he doing all of this?" Yunho hummed, shrugging his shoulders at Mingi as he stared at the blue sky, trying to find the right words to explain to Mingi. 

"I don't know myself, my lord. Sometimes I feel like he put me in all of these tough situations so I could become stronger but he never asked me if I'm fine like he did to Kyungho after I came back from duties. I know he despises naneth and myself, but I don't know why.. Naneth always told good things about him when I was a mere elfling and she told me that the king was nice to her but I never saw him come visit us. I met him for the first time after naneth's death.." 

Mingi nodded and he absent-mindedly ran his other hand through Yunho's lock when he saw how sad Yunho's face was. Yunho gave him a small smile before continuing his story, "I thought that I finally will have a father at the time.. but I was thrown into the dungeon on the day he met me.. and I was tortured for a month.. He kept saying that he won't let me take his throne.. Which I don't want to in the first place so I really don't understand why he thought that I wanted the throne.. All I wanted was to be his son that he is proud of.." Yunho shakily wiped the tears that managed to escape his eyes and took a few deep breaths, not wanting to break down in public. 

"I see.. I'm sorry, my lord. You didn't have to tell me the story if it only brought you pain.." Mingi said, wiping the leftover tears on Yunho's cheeks gently. "It's alright.. I wanted to tell you.. I never confided in anyone before but now I guess I have you, my lord." Yunho gave Mingi a shy smile but he scrunched up his face when the pain in his stomach flared up. Yunho instinctively put his hand on top of Mingi's and pressed down, hoping for the pain to diminish as he whimpered. 

Mingi massaged Yunho's stomach with a little bit more force than before and continued to do so until Yunho's face relaxed once more. He pulled his hand off of Yunho's stomach and was about to go to the campfire to retrieve the warm cloth but Yunho had stopped him with a pout and a small voice, "W-where are you going?" 

Mingi leaned down and kissed Yunho's forehead, making the half-elf hummed in content, closing his eyes, "I'm getting the warm cloth for your stomach, my lord." Yunho blushed as he thought that Mingi would leave him alone to go find the herbs for his stomach eliciting a small smirk from Mingi. "O-oh, alright." Mingi chuckled and went to the campfire to retrieve the warm cloth. 

"I don't have any excuses to tell the others.. They will pry on me until I give in and tell them what ails me.. The king doesn't want his people to know about this.." Yunho frowned, biting his lips before sighing in relief when Mingi put the warm cloth on his stomach. "Hm.. How about a stomach bug? You are a half-human and it is common for humans to have stomach bugs sometimes. " Yunho tilted his head, "...That might actually work, my lord. I do get sick sometimes so it won't surprise them." 

\--

"How's Lord Yunho, muindor-nin(my brother)?" San said as soon as they arrived at the riverbank, looking at the now sleeping half-elf, courtesy of Mingi's magic, again. Mingi had lulled Yunho to sleep with his magic when Yunho couldn't stop whimpering because of the pain, though he did ask the half-elf if he could help him sleep to numb the pain for a bit and Yunho agreed quickly, wanting the pain to stop. 

"I've given him something so he could sleep and numb the pain." Mingi said as he nodded his head a little towards the other 5 Vanithien elves. San and Jongho knew that the 'something' was their brother's magic but they kept quiet and only nodded their head. "What ails him, my lord?" Aerovan asked as he was actually worried about the well-being of the half-elf, unlike Garreth and Fynn who scoffed and rolled their eyes at Aerovan's question. 

"Anything can happen to him because of his human traits, he's weak just like humans are. Little things could ail him in any moment." Garreth scoffed. 

"He's weak? As far as I know, he killed the most just now, Garreth? Unlike you who only managed to kill 15 orcs. That doesn't look 'weak' to me. You're the one who is weak at the moment with how you cowered behind Lord Yunho in the middle of the battle." Jun hissed, he's annoyed at both Garreth and Fynn who kept bullying the poor half-elf and he had enough. 

"Don't you try to defend your elf-toy Fynn, what Jun said was the truth. Lord Yunho is not weak. Just because he is a half-human, that doesn't make him weak. When will the both of you and half of the elves in Vanithien will learn that? You lots are pathetic and very hypocrite do you know that? Lord Yunho is a lot stronger than the royal guards yet you lots treat him like he couldn't even fight with a wooden sword when he could make most of the royal guards slumped to the floor in defeat." Carl snarled at them while Jun and Aerovan had a smug smile on their faces.

"W-what do you mean by elf-toy?! Garreth is not a toy!" Fynn shouted, changing the subject making Yunho stirred from his sleep and looked over to the commotion sleepily. "What's going on here?" Yunho mumbled sleepily but enough for all of them to hear him. Fynn was about to yell at the half-elf when Jun told him what had happened, making Yunho look at them impassively before sighing loudly. "Garreth is not a toy. Are you happy now Fynn? Can you please stop shouting or yelling? I much prefer for us to have a little bit of time to fill our stomach and clean ourselves before another horde of orcs run here because of your shouting." 

Fynn pursed his lips and was about to retort but Mingi had glared at him and scared the elf so he huffed and turned around, taking Garreth with him and went a bit further from them to set up their bedrolls together. 

"My lord, what ails you? Should we go back?" Aerovan asked softly, kneeling beside Yunho. The half-elf shook his head, giving the other 3 elves a small smile, "I'm alright, I caught a stomach bug, that's all. Lord Mingi had helped with it and I'm recovering. I might not be able to hunt for our meals though.." 

"I'll go. Get some rest, my lord. Lord Mingi, thank you for helping Lord Yunho." Aerovan said before he stood up and took his bow and arrows, going further into the woods to hunt. 

"I need to find some peppermint leaves for your stomach." Mingi said, making Yunho pout instantly. Mingi chuckled, "Why, my lord? My brothers are here and they could look after you while I go find the herbs." Yunho pouted even more, sneaking a glance towards San and Jongho before he looked over to Mingi again. "B-but.." Yunho started, trying to find any excuse so Mingi didn't have to go find the herbs. Yunho did want the herbs for his stomach, but he very much didn't want to be left alone with San and Jongho as he is not that close with them and couldn't make himself to ask either of them to help massage his cramping stomach. 

"What herbs, muindor?" Jongho asked Mingi, giving Yunho a small understanding smile making the half-elf blush and hide his face with his arms. Mingi widened his eyes and prodded Yunho's arms, trying to pull it away, thinking that something else had ailed the half-elf while Jongho tried not to snickered at them. "I think it's best if you stay here, muindor. I can go find the herbs if you want. I've helped naneth with it a few times before." Mingi nodded, and told Jongho the herbs while still trying to pry Yunho's arms away from his face. 

Jongho shook his head and went further into the woods to find the herbs. 

"My lord, look at me please. Are you alright?" Mingi fussed over Yunho and after 5 minutes, Yunho huffed and let his arms be pulled away. "I'm alright.." Yunho mumbled while trying to tame down his red face. "Then why did you hide your face?" Mingi asked, quirking one of his eyebrows. "Because your bother caught on what I wanted." Yunho huffed, his pout became more prominent. "Which is?" 

".....I didn't want you to go.." 

"Even if my brothers are here to protect you?" 

Yunho nodded, tearing his gaze away from Mingi because he felt embarrassed by his confession. 

"May I know why?" Mingi asked, though Yunho can hear the tease underlying the words and he found the other smirked while staring at him. "I know you know why. Stop teasing me, my lord." Yunho whined, hiding his face again with his arms and huffed when he heard Mingi laugh. "I'm sorry, my lord. You look so cute like this. I can't stop myself." Mingi chuckled, pulling Yunho's arms away only to see Yunho's very red face staring and pouting at him. 

"Stop pouting, or I'm going to kiss it away." Mingi said without thinking and he didn't do anything when he realized what he had said but Yunho had gasped and bit his lips to stop himself from pouting. Oh, he did want Mingi to kiss him, he just didn't want to be seen by Garreth and Fynn, that's all. Mingi sighed when Yunho stopped pouting as he couldn't kiss it away now so he hauled the half-elf upright eliciting a confused hum from him. 

"My lord?" 

"We're going to bath. Since the others are here now, there is no reason for me to defend the campsite right now. I don't want you to catch some bug with all these muds on your body." 

"O-oh, alright." Yunho stuttered and gulped when he realized that he would be seeing Mingi's naked body. Well, naked upper body? Or maybe a full naked body? Yunho shook his head quickly, stopping himself from imagining dirty things. "But.. I don't want them to see me.." Yunho whispered softly before yelping, wrapping his arms around Mingi's neck when the Fronithien heir hauled him up, bridal style. 

"I'm helping Lord Yunho to take a bath. We'll be near there at the left side of the river. Could you please watch over the others and stop them from sneaking on us, muindor?" Mingi said to San and the younger elf nodded his head, smirking at his brother. "Sure, I'll make sure none go that way. Have fun." San teased, making Yunho whine a little, burying his face in the crook of Mingi's neck. "You and your brothers are all the same! Stop teasing me!" Yunho pouted in Mingi's neck, making both San and Mingi laugh. 

"Alright alright, I won't tease you again. For now." Mingi said making Yunho weakly slapped his torso while pouting and huffing before laying his head again on Mingi's shoulder when Mingi starts walking to the river. 

Mingi puts Yunho down and gets rid of his own clothing while Yunho tries very hard not to drool while staring at Mingi's toned body. Elves never had problems getting naked with each other but Yunho avoided this kind of things as his father had warned him to not let others know about his blessing so he couldn't get naked like the others even if he wants to so even if Mingi already knew about his blessings, Yunho is still somewhat shy to be naked in front of him. 

Yunho averted his gaze once Mingi turned around, though he got to sneak a little peak at Mingi's crotch and Yunho shivered when he saw how big the other was. "My lord? Do you need help with your clothes?" Mingi asked, walking towards Yunho in his full glory making the half-elf whimpered at the scene.  **_No! Yunho! Keep your lust away! It's too early!_ ** Yunho reprimanded himself. 

"Uhm.. I usually bath on my own.. As to not reveal my blessing.. So uh..I'm..uh.." Yunho starts but ends up stuttering as he keeps on glancing towards Mingi's crotch as the other is standing right in front of him. Mingi smirked but he had promised the half-elf that he wouldn't tease him again, "I take it you're not used to seeing naked elves then?" Mingi asked as he started to unbutton Yunho's tunic which Yunho let him as he nodded with his face red. 

"I'm not going to do anything unless you let me, my lord. I promise you that. You can't really do any sexual thing right now anyway. I don't want any complication that could hurt you any further." Mingi said softly making Yunho melted by Mingi's caring personality. Mingi pulled off Yunho's tunic and helped Yunho to stand so that he could take off Yunho's pants and if Mingi was intrigued by Yunho's crotch, he didn't say anything. 

"Well, I couldn't really see your blessing right now, my lord, so I don't think it will be a problem if someone caught you naked after this. Shall we?" Mingi pulled on Yunho's hands gently, guiding both of them into the water. "I know, you can only see it if I spread my legs open properly, but still, it's not safe for me to be naked all I want here in Vanithien." Yunho explained as Mingi started to clean both of them. 

"What do you mean by that?" 

"Some elves would beat me, my lord. They would always come in groups of 5 so that I couldn't fight my way out. I don't really want to use violence as the king had punished me before when I tried to defend myself so usually I would just let them beat me until they are satisfied." 

"....Yunho?" 

Yunho hummed, tilting his head at Mingi. 

"Do you think the king will let me take you to Fronithien? With me?" 

"...The king wants you to be with Kyungho, my lord.." 

"I don't want him. I want you." Mingi huffed before he went closer to Yunho, wrapping an arm around Yunho's waist, pulling him closer while he put his hand on Yunho's nape and leaning in, kissing the half-elf full on the lips. Yunho sighed, deepening the kiss while he put both of his hands on Mingi's torso. 

Little did they know, someone was watching them with a smirk on his face before turning around and running towards the palace. 

  
  



	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yunho's insight. I'm sorry for the late update. Enjoy!

"I don't know about this, my lord..." Yunho whispered as Mingi helped him to wash off the grimes. Mingi stopped washing and looked at Yunho, "Why, my lord? Do you not want me?" 

Yunho widened his eyes, "That's not it, my lord. I do want you.." Yunho bit his lips, thinking on how to explain it to Mingi. "It's just that, the King would have a fit.. I don't want to jeopardize your ada's(father's) intention to have a good relationship with Vanithien.." 

"Ada won't bother about it. We only came here to hopefully find someone that interests me because I don't really have any interest with anyone in Fronithien. He only wants me to have a partner soon as I am the heir, that's all. Fronithien is our first stop actually, and I am grateful for that as I have found someone that catches my eyes." 

Yunho blushed, slapping Mingi's bare torso lightly, "I'm flattered, but.. I don't know.." Yunho sighed and Mingi held both of his hands gently. "What's on your mind, my lord?" Mingi asked softly. Yunho kept quiet, not wanting to reveal his inner fear to Mingi. As much as he wants to be Mingi's partner, his fear towards his father is big though he never mentioned it to anyone before. 

"Are you afraid of your father, my lord?" Mingi guessed making Yunho widened his eyes at Mingi and gasped a little in surprise before lowering his gaze, "I am.." Mingi hummed, cupping Yunho's cheek gently, "Mind telling me why? How much did he tortured you to the point that it left scars in you..?" Yunho nodded softly, looking at Mingi and his eyes turned a bit grey as he reminisced his first encounter with his father after his mother's death.

[Flashback]

Yunho was only 75 years old at the time, equivalent to 13 years old in human years when he lost his naneth(mother) due to her old age for being a human. He just buried her 3 days ago and was still mourning for her when King Seojoon came to his house, along with several of his royal guards. Yunho was taken aback when they burst into his house without any warning and proceeded to grab him and made him kneel in front of King Seojoon as one of the guards put a hand on his nape, prompting him to bow down to the King.

"Huh, you have your naneth's face." King Seojoon stated nonchalantly as he looked around the house. Yunho frowned, "W-who are you?" as he tilted his head up to look at King Seojoon and the guard that was holding his nape forced his head down again. "Don't talk to your King like that, half-elf!" The guard hissed making Yunho confused again but he stayed quiet. 

"...Don't you recognize your own father, Yunho?" King Seojoon asked, surprised that his first born doesn't know about him. Yunho continued to frown before answering, "No, I don't know how my father looked like. Naneth seldomly talks about him, only telling me that he's an elf." 

King Seojoon hummed before narrowing his eyes at Yunho and slapped his face making Yunho gasp in surprise. "First time seeing me and you had the nerve to lie." 

"I'm not lying. I don't know who my father is." 

"IT'S ME! I'M YOUR FATHER AND THE KING OF VANITHIEN." King Seojoon stated furiously, thinking that Yunho was playing with him. Yunho widened his eyes, gaping at King Seojoon as he cannot believe that the elf in front of him is his father. His naneth told him that his father is a nice elf. This is not what he expected to encounter his father for the first time. 

"...Alright. What do you want from me, father? You were never here when naneth's alive." Yunho hissed, feeling a bit disappointed as he recalled how he and his mother had a rather rough life because his father wasn't there when his mother needed him the most. 

"Cocky, aren't we? I'm taking you with me so you won't try anything to take my throne away." King Seojoon said as he gave a signal to his guards before walking out of the house without looking at Yunho who had started to struggle as the guards dragged him out of the house. 

"Taking me where?? What do you mean taking your throne?? I don't want your throne! Let go of me! Is this how you treat your son??" Yunho struggled against the royal guards as they dragged him out of his house to the horses outside. King Seojoon stopped walking at Yunho's last words and turned around, giving another slap to Yunho's face as he looked at Yunho with distaste.

"I treat my son just fine. Just because you are my first born doesn't mean that I will acknowledge you as my son. I'm only taking you with me so I can watch over you before you do something idiotic such as gather an army and start a war to my kingdom." 

Yunho glared at King Seojoon, baring his teeth, "I don't want to start any war! Just let me go! I won't even step inside your kingdom! You were never there since I was born and I don't care about you!" Yunho yelped when one of the guards kicked him in the stomach making him doubled over in pain as he wasn't expecting the blow. 

"Don't you dare talk to the King like that half-elf! Show some respect!" 

Yunho grunted but stayed quiet as they hauled him up onto one of the horses. Yunho saw this as an opportunity to break free and punch one of the guards before leaping off of the horse, running away from them. 

"Don't let him get away! I want him alive!" King Seojoon shouted and one of the guards shot Yunho right at his left leg as another guard shot him at his left shoulder. Yunho stumbled to the ground as the pain from his leg and shoulder flared up. He tried to get up to run away again but the pain was too much that he fell right down again. 

"Where is your naneth's grave?" King Seojoon asked as Yunho grunted in pain and couldn't focus on the King's words. King Seojoon thought that Yunho is being a rebel and stomped his foot on Yunho's injured leg making the half-elf screams out in pain."Answer me elfling(young elf), where is your naneth's grave?" 

Yunho gasped in pain, "B-by the big t-tree behind the h-house." 

"Get her out from there, I'm going to bury her in my kingdom." King Seojoon instructed his guards and some of them quickly went to the grave to bid their King's words. 

Yunho was still writhing in pain on the ground as one of the guards picked him up and put him on the horse. Several minutes later, Yunho fell unconscious as the pain was too much for him to bear. 

\--

Yunho jerked awake when the guard tweaked the arrow that is still buried in his shoulder roughly making the half-elf screams in pain. He hazily looked around and found out that he's in a small dark room and he could see bars at the end of the room. "W-where am I..?" Yunho stuttered out weakly after the guard stopped touching the arrow. 

"In the dungeon." 

"W-why am I h-here..?" 

"Because this is where you belong. Don't think just because you're the first born of the King, you would have a nice room in this palace." The guard scoffed. 

"But I d-don't want to be here.. I want t-to go back h-home.." 

"So you could make an army and start a war here? No." 

Yunho sighed shakily, closing his eyes in pain, "I don't want t-to start any w-war.." 

"Yeah, keep saying that. No one believes you anyway." The guard said before he yanked out the arrows from Yunho's shoulder and leg without a warning. 

Yunho screamed and his voice could be heard throughout the dungeons as the guard smirked, watching Yunho writhing in pain as he yanked out the arrows.

Yunho's vision is getting blurry due to the intense pain and he's on the verge of fainting when the guard slapped his face a few times. "Don't faint now half-elf. I need to torture you first. King's orders." 

"W-wha-" Yunho started but ended up screaming again when the guard stomped his foot onto Yunho's left leg, right on the wound and grabbed Yunho's hair before he kicked the half-elf right at his stomach. 

"S-stop! P-please!" 

"Quiet! Just take it half-elf!" The guard hissed while kicking him everywhere that he could reach while Yunho tried to cover his head from all the blows. 

Minutes later, Yunho fell unconscious again, his hands lay limp on the ground as the guard beat him again and again until he's satisfied. 

This continues on for several weeks, the guards keep on torturing Yunho with everything that they could use, beating him with a thick club, whipping his back until it bleeds and more. 

\--

"My King! You said that you have found your first born and kept him in the dungeon as the guards torture him?" Eden asked, after hastily came into the main hall. Eden just got back for his patrol for 2 months near their border when he heard about it. 

"Yes. Why does it concern you?" King Seojoon said while playing with his nails. 

"He's just a mere elfling! Why did you torture him?" 

"Because he'll try to take my throne. I can't let him do that." 

Eden closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down before speaking slowly to make the King see how absurd his words are right now, "My King, your first born is only 75 years old, he's just a mere elfling in elf term.. The same as your second born, they are only months apart..Are you going to kill him?" 

"No. I can't kill him. He's still my kin and my blood runs in him. I'm not into kinslaying. That would make me look bad for our neighbouring kingdoms." 

"....If you torture him like this, he would become more frustrated and might hold a grudge towards you. It would be bad later in the future. How about making him one of your soldiers, so he could protect your kingdom? You can still control him however you want but don't just torture him like this. Someone that's holding a grudge can do so much damage later on. Since he lived with his naneth, he doesn't have any education about elves so I don't think he could take your throne right now." 

"....But what if he betrays me?" 

"You can keep an eye on him as long as he stays here. He won't have any chance to betray you because we listen to you, not him." Eden reasoned, trying to think on how to stop the King from torturing Yunho any further. 

"...Alright. I'll take your words." 

"Can I go and send him to the healing ward, my King?" 

"Yes, go ahead but I don't want him to wander around after he's healed."

"I'll be watching him, my King." 

"Alright then." 

\--

"Penneth, wake up." 

Yunho jerked awake as Eden touched him, whimpering and scooting himself backwards until his back met with the walls. "N-no.. P-please.. I s-swear I d-don't want to start any w-war.. P-please spare m-me.. Or j-just kill me already.." 

Eden sighed softly, looking at the disheveled half-elf, his body scattered with bruises and open wounds, his hair stuck to his forehead as his breathing sounds ragged and shallow. 

"I'm not going to hurt you, penneth. Your father sends me here to take you to the healing ward. He will no longer torture you, penneth." 

Yunho stared at Eden, not sure if he wanted to believe the royal guard or not. 

"If you promise not to take his throne and betray him, he won't torture you any further but he will punish you if you did something that he doesn't like." Eden coaxed him softly. 

Yunho burst into tears, nodding his head at Eden, "I p-promise.. J-just please s-stop this.." 

Eden nodded his head, slowly getting closer to Yunho and when Yunho let him, he picked Yunho up and brought him to the healing ward. 

"I'll try to save you, penneth. Hang in there." Eden said softly to the half-conscious half-elf.

[End of flashback]

"Breathe slowly, my lord. You're fine. You're not there in the dungeon anymore. I'm here, my lord. Breathe." Mingi quickly holds Yunho close, running his hand on Yunho's back once he realizes that Yunho is on the verge of hyperventilating. 

Yunho buried his head in Mingi's neck, trying to even his breathing out as he tried to concentrate on Mingi's voice. 

Mingi caressed Yunho's hair, calming the half-elf down and after a few minutes, Yunho's breathing finally even out. Mingi pulled back a little, cupping Yunho's face and kissed him softly on his forehead. "Thank you for telling me about this. You don't have to tell more. We can talk about it later when you're fine again. Alright?" 

Yunho nodded softly and Mingi took Yunho's hand, bringing them out of the water. "Let's go back to the camp. I'm sure Jongho is back with the herbs." 

"Alright, my lord." 

  
  



	8. Chapter 7

"You saw them kissing?" 

"Yes, my King." 

"Alright, good job. You can go now." 

The elf bowed and left the main hall as Seojoon smirked. "The plan is going well. I will break you, ion-nin(my son), before your dark side of your mother comes out of you." Seojoon laughed menacingly while playing with his nail.

\--

"Muindor(brother), I have your herbs." Jongho said as soon as he saw Mingi approach the campsite while holding Yunho in his arms, bridal style as Yunho had stumbled a while ago while walking and Mingi picked him up. 

"Thank you." 

Jongho nodded as San came up to them while smirking, "Well, how is your bath with Lord Yunho, muindor?" 

Yunho blushes hard and hides his face in Mingi's neck making San chuckles, holding both of his hands up in the air. "Alright alright, I'll stop the teasing now. Are you alright though, my lord?" 

Yunho nodded his head while Mingi shook his head making San quirks one of his eyebrows. "Which one is it?" San asked and Mingi answered before Yunho could. "He stumbled again while we were walking back here. I guess the pain came back. He's getting paler too." Yunho pouted and sighed, letting Mingi put him down carefully on his bedroll beside Mingi's. 

"I'm going to make you some tea, my lord. I have to go to the fire for a bit. I'll be back." Mingi assured Yunho softly when he saw Yunho looking up at him with big wide eyes again. Yunho huffed, nodding his head lightly and lay on his side, curling in on himself to dull the cramps. 

Aerovan also had come back from hunting and helping them skin the rabbits for dinner. He looked at Yunho worriedly but didn't want to push his prince too much so he kept himself busy with preparing for dinner. 

"Lord Yunho? How are you feeling?" Jongho came up to Yunho and sat next to him. Yunho gave a small forced smile to Jongho while nodding his head lightly. "I'm fine, Lord Jongho." 

"Please, call me Jongho, I will be calling you muindor too sooner or later." Jongho said, giving Yunho a smirk making the half-elf blush. "How are your cramps?" Jongho asked nonchalantly and Yunho blurted out, "Bearable. For no-" Yunho widened his eyes as soon as he realized that Jongho had asked him about his cramps when he didn't tell both Jongho and San about his blessing nor did Mingi. 

"W-wha- H-how-" Yunho stuttered but Jongho quickly calmed the panicking half-elf down. "Breathe, my lord. I know it because you have the signs like when naneth-nin(my mother) has his monthly cycles. I used to always be by his side whenever it happens." 

"...I see.." Yunho calmed down a little after that and sighed, massaging his lower stomach for a bit as he didn't need to hide it from Jongho anymore. "I take it you don't want anyone to know about this?" Yunho hummed, nodding his head at Jongho's question. "Yes.. More like my King doesn't want anyone to know about it.. So please don't tell anyone.. Aside from your muindor as he already knows about it.." 

Jongho nodded, giving Yunho a small smile. "I won't, my lord. Don't worry. Do you need help with it?" Jongho tilted his head a little towards Yunho's stomach and Yunho blushed, shaking his head. "N-no. It's fine. I'll wait for Mingi." Jongho chuckled, nodding his head. "Alright then." 

"My lord? Can you maybe stomach some food first before the tea?" Mingi asked as he came near Yunho and Jongho. Yunho grimaced, making Jongho chuckle and Mingi looked at him fondly. "Can I skip dinner..? I don't want to be sick.." Mingi shook his head and sighing softly, "It's better for you to have some food in your stomach, my lord. Just a few spoons? Please?" 

Yunho pouted and was about to shake his head but Mingi gave him a very soft look, pleading him to eat, making the half-elf sigh in defeat. "Only a few spoons.." Mingi smiled, nodding his head cutely making Yunho blush again and divert his eyes to the ground. 

"Here is your dinner, Lord Yunho, muindor. I'll leave these here." San approached Mingi and Yunho's bedroll, putting the bowls near Mingi as he sat down. "How's your cramps?" San asked, making Yunho gaped at him in surprise. "How did you lords know about this?? Am I that obvious??" Yunho gawked, his face pale as he thought that now even the elves knew about his blessing and he couldn't help feeling anxious about it. 

**_Father will have my head.._ **

Yunho started to hyperventilate making Mingi quickly haul the half-elf up into a sitting position and told him softly, "Breathe, my lord. Breathe slowly." 

"I'm sorry, my lord." San apologized, feeling a bit guilty as he triggered the half-elf to hyperventilate. "I knew because of naneth, that's all. I don't think the other elves knew about this, my lord. Don't worry. Calm down, please." 

Yunho listened and tried to calm his breathing down while Mingi ran his hand on Yunho's back. After a while, Yunho calmed down but it exhausted him making him limply lay his head on Mingi's shoulder, closing his eyes. "My lord, let's have some dinner first and your tea, then you can rest for the night." Mingi comforted Yunho, hauling him up a little so Yunho could eat his food properly. 

"But I was supposed to watch over the camp for tonight.."

"I'll watch it tonight." Both Jongho and San said in unison making Yunho blinked at them. "A-alright. Thank you, my lords." Both of them waved Yunho off lightly, "It's our pleasure, Lord Yunho. You need to rest before we encounter other orcs." San smiled. 

"Do you want my help with your dinner, my lord?" Mingi asked, making Yunho blushed, shaking his head quickly but he pouted when his hands were shaking when he tried to take the bowl from Mingi's hand. Mingi caught on this and chuckled fondly, "Let me help, my lord. Please?" 

Yunho's pout became more prominent and his face was red with embarrassment. "But they will see me.." Yunho bit his lips while glancing at the Vanithien elves near the campfire. "If they ask, I will tell them that I feed you because you're my patient right now." Mingi coaxed the half-elf but he only pouted more at the words Mingi gave him. "What's wrong, my lord?" Mingi asked, making Yunho huffed lightly. 

"Did you feed all your patients before?" Yunho mumbled, feeling a tiny jealousy in the pit of his stomach making Mingi blink while the other 2 brothers held in their laughs. "No, my lord. I had my servants help me with feeding them before. This is actually the first time for me to feed my 'patient' myself." Mingi smiled softly while trying to hide his smirk as he already caught on the half-elf jealousy. 

Yunho blushed as he finally realized that his words were absurd so he pouted, clearing his throat a little and opening his mouth so Mingi could feed him. Mingi chuckled softly and began to feed the half-elf slowly. 

Yunho munched on his food slowly and after the 4th spoon, he paled, shaking his head when Mingi tried to feed him another spoon as nausea bubbling in his stomach. "Last one. Please?" Mingi coaxed Yunho to take another spoon but Yunho only paled more so Mingi put the bowl down and ran his hand on Yunho's back slowly. "Alright. No more, my lord. Take a few deep breaths and you can drink your tea." 

Yunho obliged, taking a few slow deep breaths while closing his eyes, trying to get rid of his nausea and after a while, the nausea finally subsided. Mingi holds the cup of tea as he waits for Yunho to open his eyes and when Yunho does, he gently helps the half-elf to drink it. 

Yunho felt his cramps diminished and sighed softly. Feeling tired and sleepy, Yunho lay his head on Mingi's shoulder after finishing his tea making Mingi, San and Jongho smile fondly at the half-elf cute sleepy state. "Lie down on your bedroll properly, my lord." Mingi said while threading his fingers in Yunho's hair. 

"Mm..Tired..Sleepy.." Yunho slurred, wrapping his arm around Mingi's stomach and making himself comfortable. Mingi chuckled while shaking his head fondly and he pushed the half-elf gently onto his bedroll, tucking him in with a blanket. Yunho whined as he wanted to cuddle with the heir making Mingi blinked as he didn't quite expect the half-elf to actually be this clingy while he's in this state. 

"Well well, aren't you being a bit too comfortable with Lord Mingi, half-elf?" Fynn said, quirking one of his eyebrows towards Yunho, making Yunho's blood boil and glared at the elf. "And? What's wrong with being comfortable towards someone? You're very comfortable with Garreth yet you already have a betrothed. Am I wrong, Fynn?" 

Mingi stared at Yunho while tilting his head a bit because he was confused as Yunho usually just keeps quiet when someone taunts him. Yunho huffed, rolling his eyes when Fynn gaped at him but he didn't say anything anymore and continued eating his food silently. "..My lord?" Mingi started softly making Yunho hummed lazily while tightening his blanket around him. 

"...Are you feeling alright? I never really see you talk back to whoever taunted you." 

Yunho pouted and sighed, curling up his body under the blanket. "I don't know my lord. I acted without thinking just now. I'm just tired of their remarks and my monthly cycle made it worse." 

Jongho laughed suddenly, making both Yunho and Mingi look at him in wonder. "I'm sorry for laughing. I just remembered how naneth acts whenever he had his monthly cycles. Don't you remember, muindor?" 

Yunho frowned as he was still confused while Mingi looked like he finally remembered something before chuckling and shaking his head. "Ah, yes. I remember. Maybe this is your monthly cycle's doing, my lord. Naneth did tell us that sometimes he couldn't control some of his emotions when he is having his monthly cycles." 

"...This is why I don't want to go out of my room when I'm like this.. I'm sure I will make some trouble and the King will punish me for it.." Yunho sighed and pouted. "That's alright, my lord. I'll try to say something if he did want to punish you for something that you can't control." Mingi comforted the half-elf, caressing his hair while at it making Yunho leaned into Mingi's hand, sighing in content. 

Yunho pouted when Mingi pulled his hand back and growled, pulling Mingi until the heir flopped down right beside him, with his eyes wide looking at Yunho, bewildered by his action. "Stay! Don't go anywhere! A-and touch me again!" Yunho blurted out before he could control it. Mingi smirked and laid down properly next to Yunho as the half-elf blushed hard after realizing what he had said. 

San and Jongho pursed their lips again, trying to keep their laughs and amusement in before they stood up, "We'll be there at the fire. Call us if you need anything, muindor, Lord Yunho." San said while grabbing Jongho's hands and walking to the center of the camp. 

Yunho hid in his blanket, wailing at his outburst making Mingi chuckled before pulling Yunho closer and wrapping his arm around Yunho's waist. "Come, my lord. I think you need to rest and sleeping would be good right now." Yunho whined, peeking his head out from under the blanket and Mingi gave him a fond smile. "It's alright, my lord. I already told you how I feel didn't I? I'm fine with this." 

"I'm not used to be feeling like this...." Yunho pouted and Mingi kissed his forehead without thinking, making the half-elf blushed even harder. "Just be you. It's alright. Please get some sleep? Before your cramps come again. I want you to have a few hours of good rest." Mingi pleaded softly and Yunho finally emerged from under the blanket and put his head on Mingi's chest. Mingi pulls him even closer and Yunho sighs in content, closing his eyes and Mingi is quick to caress Yunho's waist, lulling him to sleep. 

**_I think I can get used to this.. I hope father will forgive me for falling in love with Mingi.._ ** Yunho thought before he succumbed into a deep sleep. 

  
  



	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back! Enjoy!

They managed to arrive at the place where the guards spotted the 200 orcs in 3 days. Along the way, they did encounter a few orcs but they handled them well and burned all the corpses. 

"Valar.. It seems like the orcs camped here.. Look at how mess this place is.." San crunched up his nose in distaste while looking around the damaged place. Most of the trees were cut off as the orcs took them to make some weapons. The elves winced as they heard the trees sing a sad song but Yunho felt a little bit of pain in his chest because of his blessing with nature.

He could literally feel their pain. 

Mingi had hopped down from Lossea and helped Yunho get down from Glor while frowning in worry when Yunho had a hand on his chest and the other on his stomach. 

"My lord? What's wrong?" 

Yunho shook his head a little, giving a small smile to Mingi as he rubbed his chest slowly. "It's nothing, my lord. The trees mourned and I could feel their pain as you know that I'm blessed to understand them. This is one of them." 

Mingi went to Yunho and ran his hand on Yunho's back gently, comforting the half-elf, "I see. Can we do something about it? To ease the trees?" 

"I will sing them a song later. It's alright, my lord. I'm fine." 

Mingi nodded his head, giving a small kiss on Yunho's temple, "If you say so, my lord." 

"If we encountered about 600 on the first day and about 300 in these 3 days.. Do you think we have wiped them all, muindor(brother)? Jongho asked and San could only shrug. "I'm not sure, muindor. Lord Yunho? What do you think?" San and Jongho turned to face Yunho who was standing beside Glor with Mingi's hand still protectively wrapped around his back. 

"Huh? Uhm.. I'm not sure myself.. We have to search until the end of the border.. Only then we would know.." Yunho muttered before whimpering as his stomach started cramping up again. The cramping had gradually become worse and Yunho feared that this would hinder him from fighting well. He was glad that Mingi and his brothers were here with him as they helped him to fight most of the time in the past 3 days. Yunho was this close to getting killed by an orc yesterday because he couldn't get away fast enough like he usually did but Jongho had come and rescued him from the orc. 

Mingi never left his side after that. 

"I think we will clean this place up and camp here." Mingi said and the other elves were quick to obey him and clean the place up. "My lord? Is it getting worse?" Mingi whispered to Yunho and the half-elf could only nod his head weakly, one of his hands clutching his stomach. "We really should get you back to the palace so I could treat you properly.." Mingi sighed but Yunho quickly shook his head. "N-no.. My father wouldn't like that. He would want me to finish this task.." 

"He really loves his territory more than his own son huh.." 

Yunho chuckled weakly, "He doesn't care about me, my lord. That's why he sent me to do this task. He won't ever let Kyungho do the same." 

"And he's the heir? How would he know how to be a proper king later on? The heir was supposed to do these kinds of tasks. Not you." 

Yunho huffed, not knowing what to retort. "I could never answer that, my lord. As I would never know what the King is thinking." 

"Alright then. I'm going to prepare your bedroll so you can rest properly." Mingi then brought Yunho to a nearby tree and pushed him down gently. Yunho groaned as he leaned his back on the tree, closing his eyes and sighed softly, his hand was still clutching his stomach. 

"How bad is your stomach ache that you still have it until now?? It's been days already! You're going to slow us down as Lord Mingi always told us to stop so you could rest! If this continue on, then we might have to finish covering all the borders in 3 weeks rather than 2 weeks!" Garreth hissed as he glared at the weakened half-elf. 

Yunho closed his eyes shut, annoyed by Garreth's words but he's too tired and in pain to retort so he ignored him instead. 

"Quiet, Garreth. Even if Lord Yunho is in pain, he still managed to kill the most out of everyone in the past days. The only one that was slowing us down was you because you were too scared to go near the orcs! Just stop pestering Lord Yunho for Valar sake!" Jun hissed as he had enough of the elf blaming Yunho every time Mingi decided to stop and rest. 

"Rather than blaming Lord Yunho, how about you make yourself useful for once! This is a very good practice for you, you know? You were always complaining on how you wanted to be a guard but you never try to improve yourself." Cael scoffed, making Garreth's face turn red and he kept quiet after that and went to put his bedroll without a word, Fynn helping him silently as he didn't want to fight with the other elves because they sided with Yunho more. 

They had a quiet dinner and went to sleep as Aerovan and Cael took turns to watch for the night. Mingi had given Yunho another tea to soothe his cramps and a pinch of his magic to lull the half-elf to sleep without any problem. Yunho had sang a quiet lullaby to everyone before he slept but Mingi knew that the half-elf was mostly singing for the trees to soothe their grief.

They rode for another 3 days but no orcs were in sight so they continued to cover the last part of Vanithien's border when they finally encountered another horde of orcs at the end of the border. 

They were startled at first as the orcs had been hiding but they managed to keep their stance and fight. San and Jongho were quick to slash the orcs that got in their way as the other Vanithien elves shot arrows to the orcs. 

Yunho was shooting arrows too as he couldn't really run at the moment and Mingi stayed close to him and killed the other orcs that came close to them. They fought with the orcs for some time as the orcs seemed to appear more and more from the forest and all the elves were getting tired. 

Yunho staggered, breathing heavily in his weakened state because of his monthly cycle but he still put his bow back behind his back and unsheathed his knives and ran forward, slashing 2 orcs that were running towards him. He was getting more and more tired after a while, stumbling here and there while trying to kill the orcs while Mingi killed all the orcs that were trying to get near the half-elf.

When something happened. 

"MUINDOR! WATCH OUT!" 

"MUINDOR! NO!"

Yunho widened his eyes at San and Jongho's shouting, turning around to find Mingi and gasping when he saw an orc was running too close to the heir. Without thinking, Yunho ran towards him and before Mingi could do anything about it, he was pushed away by the half-elf. Yunho had thrust his knives into the orc while the others watched the scenes unfold in front of them. The orc had pulled Yunho closed too and Mingi widened his eyes when he heard Yunho whimpered before he fell down slowly from the orc.

"No! Yunho!" Mingi shouted as he ran towards Yunho as the half-elf had pushed him quite far before and he quickly slashed the orc's neck. The orc couldn't even make a sound as everyone watched, only the head fell onto the floor before its body slumped down near Yunho. 

Mingi hastily went to Yunho and saw the half-elf clenching his eyes shut as his hands were on his stomach. "My lord?? Are you alright??" Mingi pulled Yunho away from the fallen orc and Yunho slumped backwards onto Mingi, whimpering. 

The others quickly finished killing the other orcs and ran towards the fallen half-elf. San gasped when he found Yunho's hands were caked with blood and all of them could see how the blood kept gushing out from underneath his hands. 

"My lord, I need to see your wounds." Mingi coaxed Yunho softly while gently pulling away Yunho's hands from his stomach. Yunho cried out, trying to pull away from Mingi as he felt the scorching pain from his stomach. "H-hurts.. N-no.." 

"I need to see it so I can tend it, my lord. Please." Mingi pulled away Yunho's hands gently and all of them gasped at the wound on Yunho's stomach. The orc managed to stab him quite deep with his knife and all of them knew how every orc's weapons are soaked with poison. 

Yunho cried out again making the other elves minus Mingi wince at the loud cries while the heir was inspecting the wound. "The poison had already entered his system! I need to tend to him now! I can't do this here! He needs immediate attention and all of the stuff I need would be in the healing room!" Mingi said, looking around at the other elves as Yunho writhed in his hold, the pain of getting stabbed, the poison that had entered his system and his monthly cycle's pain wrecking his body to the max. 

"I'll go with you, my lord! We must make haste! Lord Yunho is half-human, he won't withstand the poison for much longer!" Aerovan said and Mingi nodded his head, calling his horse towards him. 

"We will finish this task. You go ahead to the palace first, muindor." San said, surprisingly earning a nod from the other Vanithien elves while Jongho agreed with his brother. 

They helped Mingi get onto his horse and Yunho, while Aerovan got on his own horse and Glor neighed worriedly near Lossea, worried for his master's well-being. 

"Stay with me, my lord! I will heal you! Just stay with me!" Mingi whispered into Yunho's ears as the half-elf was already breathing heavily and half-conscious in Mingi's hold. 

"Please stay with me, my lord!" Mingi held Yunho protectively as he, Aerovan and Glor rushed towards the palace. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is very much appreciated! Thank you! ^_^


	10. Chapter 9

"Aerovan, we need to stop for a while. The horses are getting tired and I need to tend Lord Yunho's wound again." Mingi said, slowing down his horse and Aerovan nodded his head, stopping as well. They stopped for a while before so Mingi could tend to Yunho's wound and had rode for 3 days straight without stopping. 

"How is he, my lord?" Aerovan asked while helping Mingi holding Yunho in his arms while the heir gets off from Lossea. "He's having a high fever, mostly because of the poison and his wound didn't seem to heal much. Can you please help me find some herbs?" 

"Of course, my lord. What do you need?" 

Mingi took Yunho from Aerovan and put him down near the tree root, the half-elf unconscious. "I need some Athelas and willow bark." 

"I'll go and find them. Will you be alright?" 

Mingi nodded his head and Aerovan quickly went into the forest to find the herbs. Mingi sighed at the unconscious half-elf. Yunho looked so pale and his breathing labored. Mingi opened his packsack, taking out some clean cloth that he had cut it into smaller pieces to wrap around Yunho's stomach and some salves that he had brought. 

Mingi pulled Yunho's tunic up gently and hissed when he could see the blood caked the bandaged he had put around Yunho's wound. He unwrapped the bandage around Yunho's stomach, grimacing while at it because once he took off the bandage, blood kept seeping out of the wound and Yunho whimpered slightly, making Mingi look at the unconscious half-elf.

"My lord?" Mingi whispered, watching him quietly and hoping for the half-elf to wake up. Yunho stirred after a few minutes, opening his eyes slowly and looking around before he saw Mingi was watching him. Yunho then suddenly arched his back as his face scrunched up in pain and he was about to scream when Mingi pressed a hand on his mouth. The heir doesn't want Yunho's pain of cries to be heard, in fear some orcs would hear it. 

"Calm down, my lord." Mingi comforted the writhing half-elf and used his magic to ease the pain for a bit. Yunho whimpered but Mingi's magic did help soothe his pain and he finally looked over to Mingi with his eyes half closed. "M-my lord..?" Yunho croaked. 

"Yes, my lord. I'm sorry that I couldn't ease your pain more.. I'm afraid that if I do, the poison would stay in your system. I need to make sure that the poison is gone from your body first before I get to heal you." 

Yunho nodded his head, licking his lips to wet it a little as he whimpered again as the poison wrecking his body. "Where are we, my lord..?" Yunho whispered as talking also made him exhausted. "We're near the palace already, my lord. We only need 1 and a half days to arrive there." 

Yunho looked down on his stomach and grimaced at the blood pooling on his stomach as Mingi wiped the blood gently with a clean cloth. Yunho hissed when Mingi pressed the cloth on the wound, making Mingi apologize softly. "I have to clean the blood so it won't get into the wound again, my lord. I'm sorry.." 

Yunho shook his head, letting Mingi tend his wound as he closed his eyes, exhausted and his head seemed to throb more intensely. Mingi then poured a bit of water on the clean cloth and wiped Yunho's stomach, cleaning the blood but he had a frown on his face as it seems that the blood is still not stopping. 

"The blood won't stop flowing out of your stomach, my lord.. I think I need to stitch it up but I don't have the equipment here.. We need to wait until we go back to the palace.. The only thing I could do right now is clean the blood off and put some herbs that could help with the inflammation and pain." 

"I'm just glad that you didn't get hurt.." Yunho whispered, making Mingi huffed softly, "You shouldn't have done that, my lord.." 

"How could I not..? You're important for me and Fronithien.." 

"I'm going to marry you then." 

Yunho widened his eyes at Mingi's confession and looked at Mingi as the heir only gave him a small fond smile. "W-wha- W-what do you mean, my lord?" 

"I'm going to marry you and bring you to Fronithien and live there with us. You already risked your life to make sure that nothing happens to me. How could I not marry you at this point, my lord? I already said that I want you and your self-less doing just intensifies on how much I want you for myself." 

Yunho blushed. Not knowing what to say as he knows, deep inside him, he does want Mingi to take him away from Vanithien. 

"If I want to marry you, will you have me, my lord?" Mingi suddenly asked, making Yunho splutter in shock before whimpering again because the movements made the wound sting. 

"A-ask me properly and I'll give you my answer at the t-time." Yunho stuttered out. Mingi chuckled, nodding his head as he cleaned the blood on Yunho's stomach. "I'll do that." 

\--

Yunho had fallen asleep after Mingi lulled him to sleep with his magic because Yunho was getting paler by the minute. Mingi brushed Yunho's bang to the side gently, watching the sleeping half-elf fondly. 

"My lord. I've brought the herbs." Aerovan emerged from the forest, walking closer towards Mingi and Yunho. "Alright, thank you, Aerovan." Aerovan nodded his head in a polite manner and went to set up the campfire so Mingi could boil some water for the herbs. 

"Do you need a lot of hot water, my lord?" 

"Ah, no. Only a little for the willow bark. I could just use river water to clean up the blood. I've used all of the water in my water flask so I need more of it." 

"The river is near so I'll go get the water, my lord. Stay with lord Yunho please." Aerovan said, already picking up 2 bowls to go to the river and walking to the nearby riverbank. 

Mingi waited for Aerovan to go get the water while he crushed the Athelas and willow bark while watching the sleeping half-elf worriedly as Yunho kept on whimpering and moved around in his sleep. 

_ I wish I could tell naneth(mother) that we're coming back to the palace because Yunho is injured so naneth could ready all the stuff in the healing ward.. _ Mingi thought as he looked around and perked up when he saw a pigeon nearby. He whistled, calling the pigeon while opening his arms open and the pigeon landed on his palms. 

"Please go and tell my naneth what happened." Mingi said as he used his magic to the pigeon and his naneth will know what happened to them and prepare the tools for Yunho when they arrive at the palace later. The pigeon flew away once MIngi had finished using his magic and Mingi watched it silently, praying that it would reach Seonghwa fast. 

Aerovan came back after 10 minutes and he gave 1 bowl of water for Mingi to clean the blood while he started the fire to boil the other bowl of water for Yunho to drink later on. While waiting for the water to boil, Aerovan went to the horses and gave them some apples that he had found while searching for the herbs and brushes them. 

Mingi cleaned the wound on Yunho's stomach again, and he bit his lips, glancing at Yunho at what he was about to do. _ Should I wake him up first? _ Mingi thought and after debating with himself for a while, he decided to wake Yunho up first. 

"My lord, wake up." Mingi shook Yunho's shoulders gently and Yunho stirred a few minutes later, blearily looked around before he pouted at Mingi. "Why did you wake m'up..?" Yunho mumbled and Mingi gave him an apologetic face. "I'm sorry, my lord. I'm about to put Athelas on your wound and it might sting so I didn't want you to be surprise by it." 

"It hurts.. I don't want to feel more pain.." Yunho pouted sleepily making Mingi nearly comply with the half-elf wishes but he knew he had too or Yunho's wound might worsen. "I know my lord.. But I have too.. I don't want your wounds to worsen.. Please..?" 

"....Please do it gently, my lord.." 

Mingi nodded his head, giving a reassuring smile to Yunho as he took the crushed Athelas and gently smeared it on the wound on Yunho's stomach. Yunho bit his hand, making his scream of pain muffled by it as the Athelas made his wound flared up. 

Mingi quickly used his magic to ease the pain and it worked as Yunho stopped screaming and sighed in a relief breath, closing his eyes. Mingi softly apologized and quickly poured the remaining athelas on Yunho's stomach and wrapped it in a clean cloth. "I'm done, my lord. Please stay awake for a little bit more, I want to give you some tea to numb the pain." Yunho nodded weakly as he watched Mingi go to the campfire to brew the willow bark. 

Once the tea was brewed, Mingi went back to Yunho and tilted Yunho's head gently, feeding him the tea slowly as Yunho downed it. After finishing it, Mingi laid Yunho down properly and lulled him into sleep with his magic, making Yunho fall asleep instantly. 

"We should get going, my lord. The horses are fine now." Aerovan spoke and Mingi nodded before both of them cleared the campfire and started to ride towards the palace once again.

\--

"Meleth-nin!(My love!) Mingi just sent me a pigeon! He said that he and Yunho are coming back here as Yunho was severely injured! I need to prepare the tools in the healing ward before they arrive!" Seonghwa rushed towards Hongjoong in the hall. 

"What?! Is he okay?" 

"I don't know meleth-nin.. I hope so.. Our ion(son) might use his magic to help with the pain and wound but if Yunho was struck by an orc, then he must've been poisoned too and Mingi won't be able to heal him properly until the poison is out of his system." 

"Let's go to the healing room to prepare then."

"But.. Kyungho did tell us that King Seojoon forbade Yunho to use the room.." 

"I'll talk to him. Don't worry, you go ahead and prepare whatever you might need before they come back here." 

Seonghwa nodded, giving a kiss on Hongjoong's cheek before hastily made his way to the healing room while Hongjoong went to the main hall where King Seojoon usually is. 

  
  



	11. Chapter 10

"Do you mean to tell me that my firstborn is injured right now and is already making his way here?" Seojoon said, leaning back onto his seat. 

"Yes, my lord. I'm here in hope that you will let my husband and my son to use the healing room so they could tend to your firstborn." Hongjoong reasoned calmly. 

"I don't want him in my healing room." Seojoon said without missing a beat making Hongjoong had to calm himself down on how absurd the King is being right now. 

_ My son is already in love with your firstborn, King Seojoon. I'll make sure to save him if it's mean I have to use my power. _ Hongjoong thought before he start to speak again. "But my husband and my son can still use the tools in the healing room, am I right, my lord?" Hongjoong looked at Seojoon dead in the eyes, while murmuring a few words to himself. 

Seojoon blinked and without thinking, he nodded his head, "..That is correct." 

"Then it would be no problem for my husband and my son to take the tools from the healing room and use it outside of the hall, right?" Hongjoong said, still looking at the King, dead in the eyes.

Seojoon nodded his head again, "..Yes.." 

Hongjoong blinked, smiling at the King, "So Yunho doesn't have to be in the healing room to be tended to then. My husband and son will use the healing room to take whatever they need and I assure you that your firstborn won't be inside the room. I'll be on my way, my lord." 

Seojoong blinked slowly, nodded his head, "Alright..You may go now, my lord.." 

Hongjoong smiled, bowing to the king and his right hand man before walking out of the main hall with a triumphant look on his face. 

\--

"Meleth-nin(my love). Both you and Mingi can't tend Yunho in the healing room-"

"WHAT? But but.." Seonghwa cut Hongjoong off and the King silenced his husband gently, giving him a small smile. "Love, let me finish. Yes, you can't tend Yunho in the healing room but I manage to let both you and Mingi use and take the tools that you need in the healing room. We'll be tending Yunho in his room instead." 

Seonghwa blinked, nodding his head before narrowing his eyes at his husband. "You used your power, didn't you?? What if the King realized and won't let us take Yunho from here?? Mingi would be devastated!" Seonghwa hissed in a quiet voice making Hongjoong chuckled lightly. 

"I didn't use much, love. Don't worry. He won't even know what exactly happened." Hongjoong assured his husband and it's enough for Seonghwa to feel relief. 

"If you say so. I have to go to the healing room now to bring out the tools that I had set for Yunho." 

"I'll help, meleth-nin." 

Seonghwa smiled and both of them walked to the healing room quickly. 

\--

"My lord? Are you alright?" Seojoon right hand man, Randall asked his as the King seemed to be pensive. Seojoon blinked before looking towards Randall, nodding his head while leaning back onto his seat. 

"I am fine. Why are you asking?" 

"...Usually you won't even let the healer take out the tools from the healing room to tend Lord Yunho. Why did you change your mind with Lord Hongjoong?"

"His reasoning is right though. It's them who would be using the tools and not my healers. They also won't let Yunho into the healing room. I don't see what is wrong with that." 

"...If you say so, my lord." Randall bowed down and left the King to his thinking as Seojoon play with his nails, looking pensive once again. 

\--

"Yunho? Hang on please, don't lose hope, my lord!" Mingi whispered as Yunho suddenly gasped, pressing his hand on his stomach, leaning heavily on Lossea while they rode to the palace. 

"I d-don't know if I can hold on m-much longer, my l-lord.." Yunho mumbled, his breaths heavy, leaning onto Lossea more to try lessen the pain. 

"Hold on, meleth-nin. Please.. Hold on for me." Mingi said as he mumbled to Lossea to run faster and the horse heed, going even faster than before as Aerovan and Glor followed close. Yunho kept gasping, his breathing shallow as he struggled to stay conscious. 

"We're nearly there, my lord. Hold on." Mingi whispered, giving Yunho another dose of his magic in hope that they won't be too late as they rode to the palace as fast as the horses could go. 

"Muindor!(Brother!)" Wooyoung shouted as soon as he saw Mingi and Yunho on Lossea. He had been waiting in front of the gate after Seonghwa told him what happened, feeling worried for Yunho. Mingi had never shown any interest towards other elves before, so seeing how much Mingi really did his best to court Yunho, the family would do anything to keep Yunho safe and marry the heir of Fronithien. 

"Wooyoung! I take it the pigeon succeed on telling naneth then?" Mingi stopped Lossea right in front of Wooyoung, getting off from her while Wooyoung held Yunho on the horse while Mingi got down from it. "Yes but both you and naneth would have to tend him in his room instead." Wooyoung said, helping Mingi get Yunho from Lossea. 

"My lord. Let me take the horses to the stable. You go ahead and tend Lord Yunho first." Aerovan said, already pulling Lossea and Glor with him. Mingi nodded his head, "Thank you, Aerovan. We'll be in Lord Yunho's room." 

"The King won't let us tend Yunho in the healing room?" Mingi asked Wooyoung, Yunho is in his arms as they rushed to Yunho's room. "Yeah, but ada(father) persuaded him and let both you and naneth use the healing room to take any tools that you need and tend Lord Yunho in his room. Naneth already brought the stuff and waiting for you in Lord Yunho's room." 

Yunho was already unconscious once they arrived at the front gate and Mingi was becoming anxious because it seems that Yunho's breathing had become slower while his face ghostly white. 

They arrive in Yunho's room in 5 minutes. 

"Quick, put him on his bed. What happened exactly, ion-nin(my son)?" Seonghwa helped Mingi pull Yunho's tunic off of him, grimacing at the state Yunho's stomach is in. "He saved me.. I wasn't aware that one of the orcs was near me and Yunho shoved me away and took the blow instead.." 

"The wound is deep. We need to stitch it up. We better do this before Yunho wakes up." 

"I know, naneth. I'll make sure that he stays unconscious until we finish stitching him up." 

Mingi and Seonghwa quickly tend Yunho as fast as they could, as careful as possible to not hurt Yunho furthermore. Wooyoung, Yeosang and Hongjoong watched them quietly nearby and helped them whenever they asked them to. 

After 1 hour, they finally finished tending Yunho. Mingi had healed Yunho as much as he could with his magic but Yunho would still be in pain and weak for a while. They need to lower Yunho's high fever too as the poison has already done a lot of damage in Yunho's body even though they manage to clean all of them. 

"We'll let you and Yunho rest for now. Call me if something arises." Seonghwa said, urging the other to go out of the room, leaving only Mingi to watch over Yunho. 

Mingi sighed softly, looking sadly at the bundle on the bed. Yunho looked so small and his face was still pale. Mingi went into the bathroom to clean himself after watching Yunho quietly for a while. After the shower, he dragged the chair and put it near Yunho's bed, sitting on it and watching Yunho while holding Yunho's right hand, giving a little bit of his magic to the half-elf. 

\--

_ "Ion-nin, wake up, my heart"  _

_ Yunho blinked, looking around before he looked over to the voice who had been calling him. Yunho's eyes widened and it got teary right away as he realized whom the voice belonged to.  _

_ "N-naneth?"  _

_ Yunho's mother smiled softly, helping Yunho to sit up carefully. "Yes, my dear. It's naneth. I'm quite disappointed to see you here, ion-nin.. Why are you here so early..?"  _

_ "Where am I, exactly..?"  _

_ "You're in limbo, love.. I was expecting to see you maybe a thousand years away.. This is too early.."  _

_ "...Am I dead..?" Yunho sobbed and his mother quickly pulled him into her embrace, stroking his hair comfortingly. "No dear but you are near, if you crossed that light over there."  _

_ "Naneth.. I think I've found my love that I want to spend the rest of my life with.. B-but I'm already here.. Am I too late now..?"  _

_ "No, love. You're not late. I'm not going to let you cross the light. This is why I am here right now." Yunho's mother said softly, rubbing his face in Yunho's hair.  _

_ "I missed you dearly, naneth.." Yunho closed his eyes, hugging his mother tightly. "I know, love. I missed you dearly too but you can't be here.. You have to go back.. Mingi is waiting for you."  _

_ "B-but father kept pestering me.. He hates me too much, naneth.. I'm afraid that he won't let me be with Mingi.."  _

_ Yunho's mother sighed softly as he knew the reason Yunho's father was being so mean towards his son. "I have a secret, my dear. I know why your father resented you so much..I'm sorry for that, love."  _

_ Yunho pulled away from his mother's embrace, his face in a frown as he looked at his mother. "What do you mean, naneth?"  _

_ "I am not just a mere human, my love.."  _

_ "W-what?"  _

_ "I'm half elf. Just like you, ion-nin.."  _

_ Yunho blinked, staring at his mother quietly.  _

_ "Why do I feel like there's a lot more to that?"  _

_ Yunho's mother nodded his head sadly, "It is. I'm not just an elf.. I'm a dark elf, my love.."  _

_ "WHAT? T-then I'm actually half dark elf..? Is t-that why father hates me..? B-because I'm a dark elf? An elf that could bring havoc and disaster upon earth..?" _

_ Yunho's mother quickly shakes her head, "No! Love, not all dark elf is evil. We could still make our own choice to be good or bad."  _

_ "R-really? I won't turn bad..?"  _

_ "Yes, my love. If you don't want to turn bad, you could use your power for goodness instead."  _

_ "Then why did father believe me to be evil?"  _

_ "Because I told him that. I was so disappointed in him because he regretted having you with me.. I was so in love with him but he was very angry when he found out that I'm a dark elf when I told him.. I was actually going to let him go and be with his wife again but he wanted to kill me and you were already there in my womb at the time.. So I fled.."  _

_ "I don't like him.. Why did he want you when he already has his wife.."  _

_ "It's not his fault.. An elf would have a hard time resisting a dark elf once we charmed them..It was partly my fault.. I loved him so much that I charmed him but I let him go once I had you.. You were my world once I know you're alive inside my womb.."  _

_ "....I see.."  _

_ "Are you angry at me, ion-nin?"  _

_ "I can't be angry at you, naneth.. But I don't know what I'm feeling at the moment too.."  _

_ "It's alright. I understand..I think it's time for you to be aware of your real race, my love."  _

_ "What do you mean?"  _

_ "Wake up love. Your real self will come out after you wake up and it's time for you to choose whether you want to be bad or good. This is all I can do for now, ion-nin. The rest would be your own choice. Please choose wisely, love. I'll meet you again." Yunho's mother spoke softly, giving a sweet kiss on Yunho's cheek, putting her hand over Yunho's eyes.  _

And Yunho woke up. 


	12. Chapter 11

"Easy, my lord. I don't want your stitches to ripped." Mingi pushed Yunho's upper body softly, preventing the half-elf from sitting up. 

Yunho breathed heavily, blinking his eyes as he tried to comprehend where he is at the moment. Mingi saw Yunho's eyes are not in his normal brown colour but he decided to be quiet for now and focused on the half-elf first. 

"You're in your room, my lord." Mingi explained, brushing Yunho's bang to the side and feeling his forehead before sighing softly at the warmth radiating from it. 

"H-how?" 

"We arrived about 3 hours ago and both me and my naneth(mother) patched you up. The poison is no longer in your body so you could heal normally now." 

Yunho nodded his head slowly, blinking tiredly before his stomach stings, making him gasp and put a hand on it. "Is the pain too much, my lord?" Mingi asked softly and Yunho nodded his head tiredly, "Yes.. but not too much like before.." Mingi hummed and put a hand on top of Yunho's bandaged stomach, letting out his magic to soothe Yunho's pain. 

Yunho let out a breathy sigh when the pain lessened and gave Mingi a small appreciative smile. "Thank you, my lord. It doesn't hurt that much anymore." Mingi nodded before standing up from his chair, going to Yunho's desk to fetch some water while Yunho watched him quietly. 

Mingi sat on the bed and helped Yunho drink the water by tilting Yunho's head a little and Yunho drank the water greedily making Mingi pull away for a bit. "My lord, the water is all yours. Slow down, please. You don't want to upset your stomach, do you?" Yunho pouted but he heed Mingi's words and drank the water slowly this time. 

After finishing his drink, Mingi put the glass back on the desk and sat back on his chair. He stared at Yunho and saw that Yunho's eyes are still not in his normal brown colours so he decided to ask Yunho about it. 

"My lord?" 

"Yes?" 

"Your eyes are not in your normal brown colours, my lord." 

"What?" Yunho blinked and Mingi fetched a small mirror from Yunho's bedside table and showed it to the half-elf. Yunho gasped, staring at his reflection and stared at his now bright red eyes colours. "W-what's going on..?" Yunho whispered softly, enough for Mingi to hear before he remembered what had happened to him in Limbo.

"M-my lord. I w-was in Limbo with my naneth when I'm unconscious.. S-she.." Yunho started but stopped in fear that Mingi would hate him afterwards. Mingi though, already knew what the eyes meant so he held Yunho's hand gently and willed for his eyes to change to his real colours. 

"My lord. Look at me, please." Mingi said softly and Yunho reluctantly did so before gasping and widening his eyes at Mingi's eyes. "W-what.. W-why..M-mingi..?" Yunho stuttered as he didn't know what to say to the heir in front of him though he felt a little bit of hope blossoming in his chest. 

Mingi nodded with a smile, "Yes, my lord. This is who I am. That's why I didn't really tell people about my magic because mostly only dark elves possessed it. Did you met your naneth in Limbo?" Yunho nodded while still staring at Mingi's bright red eyes. He was mesmerized by it and couldn't take his eyes off of him. 

"Yes.. She told me that she was half-human and half-dark elf.. A-and she told me to choose.." 

"Choose on what, my lord?" 

"Whether to be bad or good.." 

"What is your choice? My family and I also went through this before." Mingi said, giving the half-elf a small ensuring smile. "Y-your family?" Mingi nodded. "A-all of them?" Mingi nodded again. "Not the in laws of course, they are not dark elves like us but they do know about us." Mingi explained and Yunho nodded his head, absorbing the new information. 

"C-can I really be a good one..?" 

"What do you mean by that, my lord?" 

"I k-know I told you that I w-want my father to be p-proud of me.. But there is a-always something d-deep inside me that I c-couldn't help b-but to detest him.." Yunho stuttered out, his eyes already teary from unshed tears. He's terrified of being an evil being but he couldn't shake the hate feeling towards his father either. 

Mingi wiped away a single tear that had fallen to his cheek gently before cupping his face and kissing Yunho's button nose softly making Yunho widened his eyes but he didn't pull away. "That is normal to feel like that, meleth-nin (my love). You were tortured from the day you first met him and even though you've done your best to please the king, he would always find excuses to punish you." 

"Y-you called m-me m-meleth-nin.." Yunho stared at Mingi in awe, his bright red eyes shined with hope and love. Mingi nodded softly, giving a soft thumbing on both of Yunho's cheek lovingly. 

"Yes, meleth-nin. When you were pushed to the edges by your father, it's normal to feel what you are feeling at the moment, but that doesn't mean that you will turn bad just because of that. From what I've seen in you, you are not capable of being an evil being. You love nature so much, you would always help those in need and you won't even think twice to save anyone that is in trouble even though you are struggling yourself." 

Yunho stared at Mingi, speechless before he smiled shyly, turning his gaze downwards toward his lap. "I w-won't turn bad?" 

"No, love. You won't unless you choose to be bad." 

Yunho quickly shakes his head, mumbling softly, "I don't want to be bad." 

"Then you won't be bad, love." 

"B-but how do I do this?" 

Mingi held both of Yunho's hands, giving him a soft gentle squeeze before speaking, "Close your eyes, take a deep breath and free your mind. Then pray to the Valar and tell him that you will choose to be good for your entire life." 

Yunho nodded his head before tilting his head, making Mingi question him softly, "What is in your mind, love?" 

"D-do I do the same if I want to c-choose to stay as an elf?" 

Mingi widened his eyes in awe, "Y-you have made up your mind then?" 

"Yes, I want to stay with you.." Yunho answered shyly, making Mingi smile brightly and kissing him softly on the lips. Yunho yelped in surprise as he was not expecting Mingi to kiss him but he deepened the kiss seconds later, closing his eyes and poured all of his emotions into the kiss. 

"Go on, love." Mingi said after pulling away from the kiss and Yunho nervously nodded his head. Doing all of the things that Mingi had told him and praying to the Valar. 

Mingi watched Yunho's whole body engulfed in a white shining light for a few seconds before it dimmed down and Yunho opened his eyes, smiling brightly. "I feel lighter now." Yunho said, his face in a big smile. 

\--

Yunho stirred awake when he heard a knock on his door, he lazily looked over to the door and was about to sit up when Mingi prevented him by putting a hand on Yunho's chest. "Let me, meleth-nin." Yunho gave Mingi a soft smile, nodding his head and laid back on his pillow, watching Mingi open the door. 

Yunho widened his eyes when he saw Kyungho entered the room but he relaxed once he saw only Eden following Kyungho and no one else. 

"Hello, muindor (brother). How are you feeling?" Kyungho asked after he sat on the bed. Yunho sighed softly and nodded his head. "I'm fine. Why are you here? Did father send you?" Yunho asked, a bit curious and anxious. Kyungho shook his head as Eden stayed standing next to Mingi. 

"No. I'm here to see you." 

"He was pacing around in his room once he knew that you were injured, penneth(little one)." Eden smirked and Yunho saw Kyungho blushed before glaring slightly at Eden with a subtle pout on his lips. "Quiet, Eden. Muindor wasn't supposed to know about that!" Yunho chuckled lightly, taking Kyungho's hand into his and smiled softly making Kyungho clear his throat, still bushing but he didn't pull his hand away. 

"Were you worried?" 

"Of course I am worried, muindor.. I might be an idiot before but it wasn't my intention and I thought that you would take Eden away from me." Kyungho mumbled softly, his gaze lowered to his hand that is in Yunho's. 

"I don't want Eden, don't you worry about that." Yunho said, making Eden chuckle while shaking his head. "I don't want him either, meleth. I only see him as my little brother." Eden explained. "I know that now." Kyungho huffed, before looking over to Mingi and Yunho. 

"Are you going to take my brother away?" 

"I am." Mingi answered confidently, making Yunho gaped at the heir and looking at Kyungho nervously but all he saw was a small smile that was plastered on Kyungho's face. 

"Good. I don't want father to torture him any longer. And I was supposed to do whatever my brother did because I am the heir but father won't let me out of the palace." Kyungho huffed before continuing, "I hope I will be able to do my supposed tasks when muindor is not here anymore." 

"So you're fine with me going with Lord Mingi to Fronithien then?" Kyungho nodded his head, squeezing Yunho's hand gently. "Yes, muindor. You deserve to be happy and if Lord Mingi makes you happy, then I would be happy to send you away." 

"But what about father..? I don't think he would send me away easily.." Yunho pouted, looking at Kyungho helplessly. 

"...I'm not sure about that, muindor.. I couldn't really talk back to him either.. What should we do, Eden?" Kyungho asked Eden who had his finger on his chin, tapping on it slightly. "I might be able to talk about it to the king. Persuades him in letting Mingi take Yunho to Fronithien but I don't know if he will heed me or not." Eden shrugged, making Yunho and Kyungho sigh. 

"Leave that to us." Mingi said confidently and the other 3 elves looked at him in wonder. "Do you have plans, my lord?" Yunho asked and he lowered his gaze and blushed when Mingi downright pouted at him because he called him 'my lord' instead of 'love' or 'meleth-nin'. 

"Yes, I do have a plan, MELETH-NIN." Mingi said while pouting and tensed the last word while staring at Yunho making the half-elf blushed even harder. "But I need to talk to my family beforehand. I will do it once Yunho is healed completely." 

Yunho felt exhausted again so he closed his eyes, his hand went limp in Kyungho's hold so the little brother looked down before patting Yunho's arm and stood up from the bed. "Let's go, Eden. We should let muindor-nin rest." Eden nodded his head and ruffled Yunho's hair before walking out of the room with Kyungho. 

"I want to hear it." Mingi said suddenly, making Yunho open his eyes and tilted his head a little. "Hear what?" Yunho mumbled, his consciousness already slipping but he wanted to know what Mingi wanted to hear. 

Mingi went to sit on Yunho's bed, his pout visible on his lips as he stared at Yunho, making the half-elf gulped a little. 

"You calling me meleth-nin or love." 

Yunho blushed and quickly cover his face with his hands. "W-why do you want to hear it??" Yunho stuttered and the heir smirked at the cute sight. "Just because. I've been calling you that since you woke up but I didn't hear a single one from you. Don't you love me, Yunho?" Mingi said dejectedly at the last words making Yunho quickly pulled his hands away from his face and grabbed Mingi's hand. 

"NO! I do love you, Mingi!" 

"...Then why won't you call me meleth?" Mingi pouted though he is smirking mentally, having fun teasing the half-elf. 

Yunho spluttered on the bed, minding his bandages as he whined and wailed on the bed. "I- I j-just- I d-don't-" Yunho started before huffing and pouting back at Mingi but the heir wouldn't budge at all making Yunho sighed before giving in. 

"M-meleth-nin.." Yunho mumbled, hiding his face in his hands again, refusing to look at Mingi while he willed his heartbeat not to beat so vigorously. Mingi grabbed Yunho's hands, pulling it away and huffed.

"No. Don't hide. I want to see you say it while looking at me." Mingi demanded and Yunho scrunched up his face in embarrassment before puffing up his cheeks. "Fine!" Yunho huffed out and took a deep breath and stared at Mingi. 

"M-meleth-nin." Yunho blushed and Mingi smirked and smiled brightly before leaning closer to the half-elf, putting a hand on Yunho's neck and pulling it, kissing him on the lips passionately. 

"Now that wasn't so hard, right?" Mingi teased, making Yunho punched Mingi's chest lightly. "E-easy for you to say.." Yunho pouted as the heir chuckled and kissed his temple, pushing Yunho down on the bed again. 

"Now rest, meleth." 

"W-will you still be here when I wake up..?" Yunho looked up at Mingi with big hopeful eyes and the heir melted, nodding his head. 

"I will, meleth. Sleep." 

Yunho nodded his head at the reassurance and closed his eyes.

\--

"My king. Words had been going around that Lord Mingi had confessed to Lord Yunho." 

"Really? What did my firstborn say?" 

"He reciprocated Lord Mingi's feeling, my king."

Seojoon smirked, biting his nails while at it as he stared into space menacingly. "You're finally making your moves huh, ion-nin (my son).. Don't think that I will let you off so easily... You won't ever have my throne..." Seojoong mumbled before laughing wickedly. 

\----


	13. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A filler chapter!

“Ada(Father), I want to marry Yunho.” Mingi said softly as Hongjoong visited Yunho in his room and Mingi said that to him because they didn’t want to disturb the sleeping half-elf. Hongjoong hummed, nodding his head as he looked over to Yunho fondly. “Have you considered this seriously?” Hongjoong asked and Mingi nodded his head. “Yes. I really love him and he didn’t even think twice to sacrifice himself to save me. I can see that he sees me as a partner and not some heir that he can use for wealth and class like the others that tried to woo me before.”

Hongjoong hummed while nodding his head as he agreed with Mingi. “I’ve already saw him as my own, ion(son). I’ve grown fondly towards him and I would be happy for you to marry him. Did you propose to him already?” Mingi scratched at his neck sheepishly, “Not officially. I was scolded by him and he told me to propose properly and he will answer me at the time.” Hongjoong chuckled while shaking his head and went to sit on Yunho’s bed, stroking Yunho’s hair softly with a fond look on his face.

Mingi watched Hongjoong and Yunho for a while before decided to tell Hongjoong something. “Ion, it looks like that Yunho is the same as us.” Hongjoong raised one of his eyebrows at Mingi and Mingi nodded his head. ‘Yes. He’s one of us actually. His eyes turned red when he woke up before and he told me that he met his naneth(mother) in limbo. She had explained to him about their true race.”

Hongjoong blinked.

“…I see.. Now I understand why King Seojoon acted this way towards him. We need to get Yunho out of here as soon as possible.”

“I know. Can we go after he healed? It would take around 1 week with my magic for him to be completely healed.”

“Yes, of course ion. In the meantime I will talk to King Seojoon again about your choice of marrying Yunho.”

“But I don’t think the King will let Yunho go so easily though?”

Hongjoong smirked at Mingi, making Mingi tilt his head at his father. “Who do you think I am, ion-nin(my son)? I have a lot of tricks up my sleeves you know. I would do anything if it means that we could take Yunho from this hell.”

“You’re going to use your power?”

“If it means we can save Yunho from his father and this place, yes I’m going to use it.”

Mingi nodded his head and gave Hongjoong a small appreciative smile before they heard a whimper from the bed. Mingi quickly went to the half-elf, sitting near Yunho’s waist as he threads his fingers through Yunho’s locks softly. “Meleth(Love)?” Mingi waited for Yunho to open his eyes and when he did so, Yunho slowly looked over to Mingi with a pout on his face, unaware of Hongjoong at his feet.

“What’s wrong, meleth?”

“It hurts.. I’m still sleepy but the pain woke me up…”

“Your stomach?”

“Everything..”

Mingi hummed, checking Yunho’s temperature before pulling his tunic up and unwrapping the bandages on Yunho’s stomach to look at the stitches. Yunho let him before realizing there was someone else in the room and widened his eyes when he realized that it was Hongjoong. Yunho tried to sit up on the bed but flinched instead when his stomach flared up in pain and Mingi pushed him down on the bed gently.

“It’s alright, penneth(little one).” Hongjoong assured Yunho who still try to sit up on the bed making Mingi huffed and pinch his cheek a little. Yunho yelped and pouted but he stays lying down on the bed afterwards. “I’m sorry, my lord. I was not aware you were there…” Hongjoong smiled at Yunho, shaking his head to reassure the half-elf again. “It’s alright. I was only here to see how you were doing, penneth.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up, Mingi?” Yunho pouted at his lover, making Mingi chuckle for a bit as he still looked over Yunho’s stitches. “Because ion won’t let me. He wanted to let you sleep so you could heal, meleth.” Yunho puffed up his cheeks making both Mingi and Hongjoong laughed fondly. “The meal will be sent here soon, I need to redress your wound. Your stomach is healing nicely, melleth.”

“But why does it hurt so much..?” Yunho whined.

“You were stabbed, melleth. Of course it would hurt very much.”

“Can’t you do something about it..? It really hurts..”

Mingi took pity on the half-elf and used his magic to dull Yunho’s pain, eliciting a relief sigh from Yunho when the pain diminished. “Better, melleth?” Yunho nodded his head, smiling at Mingi. “Better. Thank you, melleth.” Yunho blurted out before remembering once again that Hongjoong was there and blushed hard. Mingi smirked while Hongjoong pursed his lips to keep him from laughing out loud. Yunho hid his face with his hands and Hongjoong couldn’t keep silent anymore at the cute sight and laughed along with Mingi.

Yunho whined on the bed, flailing one of his hands in search of one of his pillows to bury his face in them. Yunho found the pillow and grabbed it before pulling it onto his face. Mingi laughed while trying to pull off the pillow from Yunho’s face but the half-elf tightly holding onto the pillow while whining. “No! I really want to bury myself in the ground right now!”

“Why are you embarrassed, melleth? Ion already know about us.” Mingi reasoned but it only made Yunho whine more into the pillow. “It’s still embarrassing!”

Mingi was about to pull the pillow again when there was a knock on the door, making him look over to the door while Yunho was still hiding in his pillow. Mingi went to open the door and the servant gave the tray of food to Mingi before bowing and left without entering the room. Mingi placed the tray on the table and went up to Yunho again.

“Melleth, stop hiding. The food is here. You need to eat. Come on, melleth. Show yourself.” Mingi caresses Yunho’s hair and the half-elf huff before pushing away the pillow and pouting at Mingi, blatantly ignoring Hongjoong watching him quietly with a knowing smirk on his face. Hongjoong then stood up from the bed, walking up to Yunho and patting his head. “I’ll be going now. I know you’re in good hands so I’m not worried. Ion, let me know if something arises.” Hongjoong said before walking out of the room.

Mingi helped Yunho to sit up on the bed comfortably, putting a few pillows behind Yunho’s back before taking the tray and placing it on the bed. Yunho pat his cheeks a few times, trying to make his blush go away as he watches Mingi sit on the bed and taking the tray, placing it on his lap. Yunho tilted his head before realizing that Mingi wanted to feed him instead and he blushed again, trying to take the tray from Mingi which Mingi won’t let him.

“I c-can feed myself, Mingi!” Yunho protests but Mingi won’t have any of it and picks up a grape from the tray, waving it in front of Yunho’s lips. “No. I want to feed you myself.” Yunho pouted and glared at Mingi as he thought that Mingi would do this to all of his patients, making Mingi tilt his head in confusion.

“Did you feed all of your patients too before?”

Mingi chuckled at the realization, putting the grape back on the tray and placing the tray on the bed before scooting closer to the half-elf. Mingi then proceeded to kiss the half-elf softly making Yunho gasped but closed his eyes and reciprocated the kiss, sighing in content while at it.

“I never fed my patients before, melleth. I want to feed you because you’re my lover and not because you’re my patient. Now, will you let me feed you?” Mingi explained making Yunho blushed, looking down at his hands that are fumbling the blankets. “Melleth?” Mingi called Yunho, making Yunho look up at Mingi quickly, realizing that he had been zoning out. “Y-yes?”

“Can I feed you, now?” Mingi asked with amusement in his voice, making Yunho clear his throat and nodding his head. Mingi beamed up and placed the tray back on his lap and fed Yunho with the food occasionally while he eats some of it himself. Yunho chewed his food slowly, watching Mingi eating happily and he couldn’t help but to smile at himself, making his cheeks that were full of food looked like a chipmunk.

Mingi stopped eating when he saw Yunho’s full cheek and he had to stop the urge to pinch the said cheeks in fear of startling the half-elf. Yunho saw that Mingi had stopped eating so he tilted his head in confusion, looking at Mingi with wide innocent puppy eyes.

“Melleth? Why did you stop eating?” Yunho asked after he had swallowed the food in his mouth and Mingi startled before clearing his throat and chewed his food again while shaking his head. “It’s nothing, melleth-nin(my love). I was just watching you.” Mingi blushed a bit as he had been caught by the half-elf.

“Why? Is something on my face?” Yunho said while patting his face and wiping it but he frowned when nothing was on his hands. “It’s nothing. You just looked cute while you were eating, that’s all.” Mingi explained sheepishly making Yunho’s cheeks heated up and he smiled softly. “O-oh. I s-see.” Yunho stuttered out and Mingi was sure that he had fallen in love again with the half-elf. Mingi then fed Yunho again and they ate the food happily while conversing anything that comes to their mind.

\--

“I’m going to see the King again.” Hongjoong said nonchalantly as Seonghwa buried his face in the crook of Hongjoong’s neck.

“Hm? What for? Did something happen to Yunho?” Seonghwa asked, tilting his head up in alert. Hongjoong quickly caresses Seonghwa’s head to assure him that everything is fine.

“It’s nothing, melleth-nin. I just want to say to the King that Mingi wants to marry Yunho and that we will be taking him to Fronithien. That is all.” Hongjoong explained and Seonghwa put back his head on Hongjoong’s chest, humming at the explanation.

“I see. What if the King won’t let Yunho go?”

“Then I’ll make him.” Hongjoong said with a smirk, making Seonghwa shook his head softly.

“Don’t use your power too much or he will catch on it, melleth.”

“I won’t.” 


	14. Chapter 13

“Your wound is healing nicely, melleth(love).” Mingi said as he redressed the wound on Yunho’s stomach. Yunho hummed, nodding his head as he watched Mingi doing his job with a small smile. “It doesn’t hurt anymore too.” Mingi smiled before pulling Yunho’s tunic down and kissed Yunho on the forehead. “You’ll heal completely in 2 or 3 days, melleth but you now can get out of your bed and walk around.” Mingi explained further and Yunho beamed up at that.

“Really? Can I go to the lake then? I missed going out. I missed my naneth(mother) and the wolves.” Yunho looked at Mingi with wide hopeful eyes and Mingi couldn’t say no to him. “Sure, melleth. Do you want to go right now?” Yunho nodded his head quickly in excitement and Mingi helped him to get out of bed and let Yunho pace around in his room for a while before they went to the lake.

No one dared to come close to Yunho as Mingi was with him so Yunho felt safe and blushed when Mingi put a hand around his waist while they walked to the lake. When they arrived at the lake, the wolves quickly went to Yunho but they were being a little bit aggressive toward Mingi, so Yunho softly told them that Mingi was not an enemy and they began to sniff and licked Mingi like how they used to do with Yunho.

Yunho sat down next to his naneth’s grave while Mingi sat next to him and they talked with each other for hours. Yunho saw Mingi was getting nervous, so he turned and looked at Mingi properly. “Melleth? Why are you fidgeting? Is this place making you uncomfortable? We can go back to the palace if you want to.” Yunho said but Mingi shook his head, “No it’s not that, melleth..” Mingi said before he paused and looked at Yunho in the eyes.

“Melleth, if I bring you back to Fronithien, won’t you miss your naneth..? Will you be fine there with me and the others though?”

Yunho hummed, “I will miss my naneth but she will always be with me. In here.” Yunho said, placing his hand on his chest, making Mingi a bit relieved and he stood up, making Yunho tilted his head.

Mingi pulled Yunho up as well and kept holding both of Yunho’s hands in his. Yunho frowned in worry for a bit as he wondered why Mingi was looking very nervous at the moment. Yunho was about to ask Mingi what’s wrong but Mingi beat him to it first.

“Yunho, will you take me as your husband? Will you marry me?”

Yunho widened his eyes and instantly blushed when Mingi released his hands and took something out from his pocket. Yunho blushed even deeper when he saw that it was a ring. A very beautiful Gold ring with Emerald stone. Mingi nervously showed it to Yunho without a word, waiting anxiously for Yunho’s answer.

“I will.” Yunho answered softly, still blushing and giggled when he saw Mingi breathe out a relief breath before he smiled and placed the ring on Yunho’s finger. Yunho touched the ring on his finger with such a fond look and Mingi pulled him in for a kiss. They deepened the kiss for a while and didn’t realize that someone was watching them. That person narrowed his eyes before fleeing to the palace.

\--

“My King! I’ve seen something at the lake! Lord Mingi had proposed to Yunho!”

Seojoon raised one of his eyebrows as one of his people just came into the hall without waiting for the guards to give him the permission to enter. Hongjoong, who was in the room, looked at the elf with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Is that why you came here, my lord?” Seojoon asked Hongjoong. The King of Fronithien nodded his head. “Yes, my lord. Now that you knew that my heir had proposed to your firstborn, we will be taking Yunho with us to Fronithien.”

“That mud is not worth it for Lord Mingi! Why didn’t Lord Mingi chose our prince or someone else from here instead?!” The elf hissed at Hongjoong making Hongjoong glared at him with such a menacing glare.

“Don’t talk about my son like that, you peasant. It is his choice and I have no problem with it. I find Yunho to be the best choice here anyway. Kyungho already has someone that he loves so I’m not going to force him to marry my son and my son does not like him in that way.” Hongjoong said, making the elf gaped at him but he didn’t dare to say anything anymore.

“What if I say I don’t want to let my firstborn go with you all?” Seojoon challenged Hongjoong.

“Let him come with us. He’s not happy here anyway. Shouldn’t you be happy that he won’t be in your way and your throne any longer? Once I let my heir become the King, Yunho will have to help him managing Fronithien together.” Hongjoong said while using his magic to the King of Vanithien.

“…That kind of true.. He won’t try to take my throne any longer if he’s busy managing Fronithien with your heir..” Seojoon said and Hongjoong smiled wickedly at the King. “Yes, my lord. So, can we take Yunho with us soon? We will have to go back to Fronithien in 2 days.” Hongjoong asked and Seojoon nodded his head.

“Yes. You may take him.”

Everyone in the hall gaped at their King but no one said anything, so Hongjoong bowed and went out of the hall triumphantly.

\--

“We will go back to Fronithien in 2 days, melleth-nin.” Mingi said as they sat at the lake making Yunho widened his eyes. “What? That soon?!” Mingi looked at Yunho anxiously. “You don’t want to go so soon? We have to go back though. Our people need us.” Mingi explained and Yunho shook his head. “No, it’s not about that. I didn’t pack anything yet!” Yunho said, panicking as he stood up and pulled Mingi’s hand with him. “Come, melleth! I need to start packing tonight or there won’t be enough time!” Mingi blinked and chuckled at the unexpected answer before letting Yunho pull him towards the palace. “Calm down, melleth. I’ll help you with it, don’t worry.” Mingi said as he pulled Yunho’s hand to slow him down a bit.

Yunho huffed but walked a bit slow with Mingi to the palace when 5 or 6 elves came to them, to Yunho to be exact. Yunho faltered for a bit seeing them as he knew these elves were the one who liked to beat him up whenever they could and he couldn’t get away this time. Not with this wound. Mingi pulled Yunho behind his back as he glared at the elves.

“My lord, give that mud to us. He’s not worth your while.” One of the elves said to Mingi, making the heir furious. “He’s worth all of my while, unlike all of you who like to beat up someone just because he is different from any of you. All of you disgust me greatly.” Mingi hissed, making the elves growled at the humiliation.

Mingi was getting ready to beat them up if they touched Yunho but the half-elf quickly whispered to him. “Melleth.. Don’t fight them.. Father will have a fit and punish me rather than you.. I might can’t go with you to Fronithien if this happens.. Please..” Yunho begged and Mingi bit his lips, nodding his head in understanding. “Let me handle them, melleth. I know what to do.”

“Yunho is betrothed to me now. If you hurt him, you will deal with me and my family too. We don’t want that now do we?” Mingi threatened them, making the elves realize that it is true. Grumbling, they went away without a word as Yunho breathed out a relief breath, putting his head on Mingi’s shoulder. “Thank you, melleth. I was worried that they would still try to beat me up.. I usually let them do it because if I fought back, they will tell father and father will punish me even though it was not my fault..”

Mingi turned around and pulled Yunho closer, running his hands on Yunho’s hair and back, calming the half-elf down. “It’s alright, melleth. I’ll protect you from now on.” Mingi whispered softly into Yunho’s ear and Yunho nodded his head, clutching Mingi’s tunic tightly. “Thank you, melleth.” They pulled away after and Mingi took Yunho’s hand in his before they walked back to the palace.

They were about to arrive at Yunho's room when San and Wooyoung saw them together. “Muindor(brother), I heard about it. Congratulations! I’m happy for the both of you! Lord Yunho? Does this mean you’ll come with us to Fronithien in 2 days?” San asked excitedly, patting Mingi’s shoulder happily.

Yunho blushed, nodding his head with a soft shy smile. “Yes, I will go with all of you to Fronithien. Please take good care of me.” Yunho bowed down, making San and Wooyoung widened their eyes and bowed lower than Yunho, making the half-elf blinked. “Don’t bow down to us, my lord! You’ll be our heir and the next king’s mate!” Wooyoung said, making Yunho blushed even deeper.

“O-oh. I’m sorry.” Yunho apologized but both of them smiled warmly at him. “It’s alright, my lord. We will take care of you as much as we could and don’t worry about being different in Fronithien. We didn’t care about that at all. Our people are nice. Very nice. They would be happy that our heir finally found his soulmate.” San explained happily. “Thank you.” Yunho said and Wooyoung excitedly went a bit closer to Yunho. “Do you need our help to pack? I can help you with it too! I don’t have anything to do anyway!”

Yunho bit his lips, looking at Mingi and the heir nodded his head encouragingly, so Yunho smiled at Wooyoung. “Y-yes. I could use some help to pack my things.” Yunho answered shyly and Wooyoung wiggled his hands in front of his chest giddily. “I’ll help! Let’s go!”

Yunho nodded his head and they all went to Yunho’s room to help him pack his stuff. 


	15. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There will be smut in this chapter. Read at your own risk.

Yunho and the others were packing when they heard a soft knock on the door. Wooyoung, who had been the closer one to the door, went to open it. Kyungho and Eden walked into the room as Yunho turned around and widened his eyes when he saw both Kyungho and Eden had a pout on their face. “You’re going away in 2 days and didn’t bother to tell us, muindor(brother)?” Kyungho pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. Yunho scratched his neck sheepishly, “Forgive me.. I am about to tell you once I finished packing.. I didn’t know the news had reached you..”

Eden went to Yunho, flicking his forehead lightly, making the half-elf yelped and pressed his palm on his forehead while pouting at Eden. “That’s for not telling us as soon as Mingi proposed to you, penneth(little one).” Yunho huffed before yelping when Kyungho suddenly hugged him. Yunho blinked, before smiling softly and hugged his brother back. “Don’t forget about me, muindor. I’m going to miss you but I know that you’ll be happier there with Lord Mingi.” Kyungho whispered softly before pulling away. “I will send you letters once in a while.” Yunho told him and that was enough for Kyungho as he beamed up and nodded.

There was another knock on the door and Eden opened it this time and Yunho raised an eyebrow as he waited patiently to see who had come. Wooyoung peeked at the door before saying, “Oh! Let me help, my lord.” Eden gave him a grateful smile and Yunho finally knew what’s happening as Wooyoung and Eden held trays full of food. “I told them to send the food here, I want to have meals with you before you go to Fronithien.” Kyungho said while blushing, making Yunho giggled and patted his head. “Thank you, muindor. I’m grateful for this.”

They had a peaceful meal, with everyone chatting lightly and it makes Yunho happy that at least in his last days in Vanithien didn’t end up with him fighting with his brother or father. Yunho, Mingi, Wooyoung and San continued packing Yunho’s stuff before Mingi called it a night. Wooyoung and San had left Yunho’s room first and Mingi was about to do the same but Yunho tugged on Mingi’s tunic, preventing him from leaving his room, making the heir tilted his head at the half-elf. “Melleth(love)?” Mingi asked and Yunho bit his lips as he blushed.

“S-stay? P-please?” Yunho stuttered out and Mingi’s face turned soft and he closed the door. “Okay. I want to take a bath though. Bath with me?” Yunho blushed even redder but nodded his head as he let Mingi take his hand and pull him into the bathroom. Yunho bit his lips as he watched Mingi take off his clothes and did the same, albeit slowly as he was watching Mingi, in his full bare self, filling the tub with warm water. Yunho fumbled with his fingers while he waited for Mingi to fill the tub and Mingi took his hands again after he was finished, pulling him near the tub.

Mingi got into the tub first and Yunho did after, sitting in front of Mingi as Mingi pulled him close, Yunho’s back to his chest as they hummed in content. Mingi then started to kiss on Yunho’s neck, making the half-elf moan quietly, tilting his neck to give more access to Mingi. Mingi started to roam his hands on Yunho’s chest, eliciting more moans from the half-elf and a smirk from the heir. Mingi then slowly roamed Yunho’s body lower and lower before he grabbed Yunho’s hardening cock and a whimper came out from Yunho’s mouth.

“M-melleth..” Yunho stuttered before he moaned when Mingi tugged on his cock firmly while Mingi hummed in question. “I n-never did t-this before though..” Yunho mumbled though he didn’t stop Mingi from fondling his cock. “It’s okay. I know what to do melleth.” Mingi said softly and kept fondling Yunho’s cock before he moved further down and started to play with Yunho’s clit. Yunho gasped at the stimulation as he never done it with anyone else before and it was intense for the half-elf.

Mingi kept stimulating Yunho’s clit, making the half-elf moan and he gasped, arching his back when Mingi started gripping his cock and slowly pumped it. Mingi then inserts one of his fingers into Yunho and thrusts it in and out as Yunho’s moans get higher in pitch and volume while Mingi’s other hand is still pumping his cock. Yunho had his eyes closed at the intensity and he suddenly felt something in the pit of his stomach, stuttering out to Mingi as he moaned loudly, his toes curled and legs trembled.

“M-melleth!” Yunho moaned as he squirted and cum at the same time as Mingi kept doing him for a while until Yunho whimpered and whined at the overstimulation. Yunho breathed harshly as he came down from his high before Mingi got out of the tub, pulling Yunho with him. “Come, melleth, we’ll rinse ourselves out of this tub as I clean it. Yunho nodded hazily, still felt a bit dazed from the intense orgasms before he saw Mingi’s still hard cock and pouted, pointing to it. “B-but you still..” Yunho waved, not knowing what to say to Mingi as the heir chuckle. “It’s alright melleth. I’ll take care of it later.” Yunho pouted even more and shook his head pushing Mingi until he was back to the counter and got down on his knees. “No, I want you to feel good too.” Yunho said but he didn’t know what to do as he looked up at Mingi. Mingi gave him a soft smile before guiding him. “Take me in your mouth, melleth. If you want of course, or you could just stroke me like what I did to you.” Yunho nodded and took Mingi’s cock into his mouth. 

Mingi hissed at the pleasure, putting his hand on Yunho’s head as he let the half-elf devour him and closed his eyes. Yunho doesn’t know what he was doing but when he heard Mingi moaned, he became excited and keep eating Mingi’s cock, swirling his tongue around Mingi’s head and smiled when Mingi goes rigid, grabbing Yunho’s hair, albeit gently and he kept doing it until Mingi suddenly put both of his hands on Yunho’s shoulder.

“Melleth, stop. I’m about to come.. You don’t have to put it in your mouth any longer..” Mingi said in between his moans but Yunho kept going, wanting Mingi to come in his mouth. Mingi moaned deeper when Yunho kept licking him and he tensed as he came, spraying his cum into Yunho’s mouth. Mingi gaped and blinked when he saw Yunho swallow his cum, before pulling him up and kissed him passionately on the lips. They pulled away after a while as Mingi leaned his forehead onto Yunho’s.

“You didn’t have to swallow it.. I don’t think it tastes good..” Mingi said softly as Yunho giggled, giving Mingi his kitty smile. “It’s okay. I wanted to.” Mingi huffed lightly before he told Yunho to sit on the stool as he cleaned the tub and put another warm water in it. Yunho started to soap himself while waiting for Mingi and proceeded to soap Mingi when the heir sat beside him on another stool and they giggled, playing with each other playfully for the rest of the bath.

\--

Yunho fussed around Glor, making sure that all his stuff was there before he nodded, satisfied and went to Kyungho and Eden who were with them in front of the stairs leading to the palace. Seojoon was also present as he had to bid the Fronithien’s royals goodbye because it was the royal’s protocol though he didn’t really care about his firstborn at the moment. He was still under Hongjoong’s charm so he thought that with Yunho gone, his throne would be secured so he really wanted to send Yunho away right now, to the pleasure of Fronithien’s elves but some of Vanithien’s elves were not so pleased by it. They still thought that Yunho might do something to Vanithien later on but their King had let the half-elf go to Fronithien.

“Thank you for your hospitality, my lord. You are very welcome to visit Fronithien too if you want in the future.” Hongjoong said, giving a polite bow to the Seojoon and the King of Vanithien did the same, adorning a small polite smile. “I will think about it, my lord. Have a safe journey back to Fronithien. I wish all of you well.” Seojoon said as Kyungho and Eden hugged Yunho before watching them rode their horses. Kyungho and Eden waved at Yunho, watching their beloved student and brother happily as they knew that Yunho will be a lot happier with them and wished him well.

They rode for 4 hours before stopping near the riverbank, already out of Vanithien border to let the horses rest as they made some meal to fill up their stomach. Yunho sat on the ground, near the tree as San went to hunt some animals for them to eat and Mingi sat next to the half-elf, threading his hand through Yunho’s hair. “How are you feeling, melleth?” Mingi asked, eliciting a hum from Yunho as he watched his surroundings with a small soft smile.

“This is nice. I never went out of the border before so I’m a bit excited.” Yunho said as the leaves ruffled behind them from the trees, welcoming Yunho as they knew that the half-elf is special. “ _ Sing us a song, dear half-elf. Your singing could help us grow more.”  _ One of the trees spoke, making the other elves look at Yunho in awe. “You can do that, my lord?” Jongho asked as Yunho shook his head with wide eyes.

“I don’t know, my lord. I do like to sing for the trees before but I didn’t know that my singing could help them in any way.” Yunho explained as Seonghwa urged him to sing softly and Yunho did. They watched how all the trees ruffled their leaves happily, and gave Yunho a bright smile as they silently listened to Yunho sing. Mingi had pulled Yunho closer and the half-elf kept singing as he put his head on Mingi’s shoulder.

Suddenly, there was a pigeon flying to Hongjoong and the King of Fronithien took something from it legs and read it. He widened his eyes at that before he wrote something back and put it at the pigeon’s leg before the pigeon flew away. “What’s wrong, melleth?” Seonghwa asked, frowning in worry as he looked at Hongjoong who sighed. “Our forest kept getting worse. They are dying by the minute and the soldiers want us to get home as soon as possible..” Hongjoong said and Seonghwa frowned even more.

“It’s worsing?” Hongjoong nodded and Yunho had heard them so he asked them and Hongjoong explained to him that Fronithien was not in a good condition at the moment. The forest within their territory had been dying lately and they didn’t know what to do before Wooyoung perked up, looking and pointing at Yunho.

“Maybe lord Yunho can cure them?? With his singing??” Wooyoung said and Hongjoong tilted his head, looking over to Yunho who gave him a small smile. “If I could help them, I will do anything, Fronithien will be my home from now on so I would be glad to help them grow again.” Yunho said and Mingi melted at how nice and considerate his betrothed is and kissed him on the cheek. Yunho blushed but didn’t push Mingi away as the others chuckled at how red Yunho’s face is right now.

“Thank you, Yunho. That would be a great help.” Hongjoong said, making Yunho beamed up and they all started chatting on whatever while waiting for San to come back. 


	16. Chapter 15

They arrived at Fronithien’s border 1 and a half weeks later as they rode as much as they could and only stopped for a meal or letting the horses to rest. Yunho gasped when he saw the state of the forest there. Everything seemed to be dying and rotting, making the smell a bit unbearable as Yunho cupped his mouth and nose, coughing while at it. “Oh no.. It wasn’t this bad 3 moons ago..” Seonghwa said sadly as the others nodded their heads. “I don’t understand why all of them are dying and rotting..” San huffed. “Neither do we, ion-nin(my son).” Hongjoong sighed before they heard Yunho whimpered. 

They turned to look at Yunho who had doubled over, his hands on his knees as he coughed. Mingi rushed to his betrothed, running his hand on Yunho’s back slowly. “What’s wrong, melleth(love)?” Mingi asked worriedly and Yunho sucked in a deep breath before answering. “I c-could feel their despair, melleth.. It h-hurts..” Yunho mumbled and flinched when the trees weep again, making his body hurt. 

“We couldn’t feel them like you can.. We can only hear them.. Is it that bad, muindor(brother)?” Jongho asked, looking at Yunho worriedly as Yunho nodded his head curtly as his head hurt too. “They’re w-weeping..”Yunho said before gasping and his legs gave out underneath him but Mingi managed to hold him before he could fall to the ground. Yunho took a deep breath while sitting on Mingi’s lap who had sat on the ground, closing his eyes and started singing as best as he could even though he still could feel the pain. 

All of them watched in awe when the trees began to stop weeping and blooming again. Yunho sang for 5 minutes without stopping until the trees stopped weeping and thanking him, only did he stop singing. He slumped onto Mingi in exhaustion, his breathing became shallow and quick, making Mingi panicked a little. Mingi quickly gave his own energy into Yunho with his magic and he breathed out in a relief breath when Yunho visibly relaxed and the colour returned to his face. Hongjoong tilted his head while tapping his chin with his forefinger as he watched Yunho. 

“I think since Yunho is blessed to revive nature; his energy would deplete every time he used his blessing. Just like us who have some blessings that the Valar had gifted. Yunho-ah, please mind your energy and state of health when you’re healing nature after this. You could get sick and it would be a little bit harder on you because you’re a half-elf.” Hongjoong explained and Yunho nodded tiredly. “I will, my lord.” 

“Aran-nin(My king)!” 

Everyone looked over to where they heard the voice and saw 5 guards rushing towards them on their horses. “What just happened, Aran-nin?? Why are the trees blooming again? They were dying for over a week already!” One of the guards said, staring at the blooming trees in awe. Hongjoong smiled at them warmly, gesturing towards Yunho who was still sitting on Mingi’s laps while he laid his head on the heir’s shoulder, making the guards look at him with wide eyes. Only elves with high position could touch the princes or when the princes gave them the permission to do so and they were quite interested with Yunho who seemed so close to Mingi. 

“My son’s betrothed healed the trees but he is exhausted after doing so and he’s half-human so he tires easily. Give me the reports, guards.” Hongjoong said and the guards quickly did so, telling him that the trees are dying even until at the entrance of the palace nowadays but there was no sighting of orcs. Hongjoong hummed before looking over to Seonghwa. “I think these were made by someone.” Hongjoong said as Seonghwa tilted his head. “Why do you think so?” His husband asked and Hongjoong shrugged. “It’s the only explanation. The trees couldn’t be dying at the same time like this. Someone is behind all of this.” 

“Who do you think, ada(father)?” Yeosang asked. “I’m not sure, ion. I need to look over it before I could make some assumptions. I’ll do it later at the palace.” Yeosang nodded his head at that, before resuming playing with Jongho’s hands. “I’ll help you then.” Yeosang mumbled and Hongjoong smiled, patting his son-in-law’s head softly. “That would be great, ion.” The guards then watched how tired Yunho is right now and became worried, since the Fronithien’s elves are very kind and generous, they genuinely worried about Yunho even though they already knew that he was a half-elf. 

“Our camp is nearby, my lords. Please go there so Lord Mingi’s betrothed can rest properly. We will go hunt some animals for meals.” The guards said as they pointed to where their camp is at. “Thank you, we’ll head there right now.” Mingi said and the guards bowed down to them before hurrying to find some meat for their kings and princes. “Melleth, how are you feeling? Can you stand up and walk?” Mingi asked Yunho softly and the half-elf shook his head tiredly, still having his head on Mingi’s shoulder, too tired to even talk at the moment. 

Mingi then picked Yunho up without a word and they started walking to the camp. Once arrived, Mingi was about to put Yunho down at one of the tree roots before he realized that the half-elf had fallen asleep. “Jongho-ah, can you please lay down the roll? Yunho had fallen asleep.” Mingi said softly to Jongho as he doesn’t want to rouse the sleeping half-elf. Jongho had a fond smile on his face as he stared at Yunho, nodding his head and lay the sleeping roll on the ground. Mingi thanked him before putting Yunho down on the sleeping roll carefully. 

“He fell asleep that fast? His energy must have depleted a lot. Let me take a look at him, ion-nin.” Seonghwa said, worried about Yunho and Mingi let his nana(mother/mama) sit down beside him and started probing Yunho. Mingi watched Seonghwa checking Yunho over and he already knew what Seonghwa knew even before Seonghwa told him but because his other brothers are there too, Seonghwa started to speak to his other sons. “Yes, his energy had depleted greatly. If he pushed himself for another 2 minutes earlier, he would end up fainting. We have to be careful after this, if he pushed himself for too long, it could endanger his life.” 

“That serious?!” Wooyoung screeched softly as Seonghwa and Mingi nodded their heads. “He could die of exhaustion so we have to make sure that he gets plenty of rest before continuing his singing to heal the trees but naneth?” Mingi started as Seonghwa hummed, “What if Yunho could absorb the nature’s energy instead? Like how I did with mine. I think he could replenish his energy right after healing the trees.” Mingi explained his thoughts and Seonghwa nodded his head. 

“Then you will teach him how to absorb the nature’s energy. I think the nature would give their energy to Yunho as he helped heal them anyway but he needs to know how.” Mingi nodded as he caressed Yunho’s hair. “I’ll teach him after he has a full rest.” Mingi said before frowning as he touched Yunho’s forehead and felt that the half-elf is a little bit warmer than usual. “I think he’s already having a fever..” Mingi sighed and he soothed the sleeping half-elf when he whimpered in his sleep. 

“Definitely a fever, I’ll go find some herbs that could lower his fever down for a bit.” Seonghwa said after he felt Yunho’s forehead and went into the forest with Jongho tailing him. “I’ll tell one of the guards to go ahead to the palace and ask them to prepare everything for Yunho. Do you want him in the healing ward or your room, ion-nin?” Hongjoong said and asked Mingi. “My room. He might didn’t show it in front of you guys, but this betrothed of mine is a very jealous elf.” Mingi chuckled, making the others widened their eyes in amusement. 

“Really?? I never expect for him to be a jealous elf.” San said, chuckling as he tried to imagine the look on Yunho’s face when he’s jealous. Mingi nodded his head while chuckling. “Yes. He’s very jealous and if we put him in the healing ward, he might be jealous when I tend to the others so it’s better for him to be in my room so I will only focus on him.” Mingi explained as Yeosang tilted his head. “Does he throw tantrums when he’s jealous?” Yeosang asked, clearly interested with the news. 

“Hm.. He doesn’t throw a tantrum but he does sulk and pout until I consoled him.” Mingi said fondly and the others chuckled lightly at that. “What if you need to tend injured soldiers in war? Will he be jealous at the time too? He shouldn’t though as you are our main healer besides nana.” Wooyoung asked and Mingi hummed. “He won’t. Not in war at least. When we were out patrolling weeks ago, I tended the five elves for a few times while he’s having his monthly cycle but he didn’t sulk or pout. He only did it when he knew that nothing is serious.” Wooyoung nodded, glad at the answer before flopping on San to cuddle him while waiting for their guards to come back with some meat for meals. 

After a while, the guards are back with Seonghwa and Jongho. They started skinning the meat and cooking it in the middle of the camp while Seonghwa brewed the herbs he had picked for Yunho’s fever. Yunho was still sound asleep and Mingi went to rouse him up when the meals were cooked. “Melleth, wake up. The meal is ready.” Mingi said softly, running his fingers through Yunho’s locks. Yunho whined, making Mingi chuckle. “Up, melleth. You can sleep again after your meal and some tea for your fever.” 

Yunho slowly opened his eyes, pouting before tilting his head hazily. “Fever..? I’m having a fever..?” Yunho questioned tiredly and Mingi nodded his head softly. “Yes, melleth. You’re having a fever because you pushed yourself too much earlier while healing the trees.” Yunho pouted, lowering his eyes as he felt guilty for being a burden again. “I’m sorry..” Yunho mumbled, making Mingi tilt his head in question. “Why so, melleth?” Yunho huffed as he sat up with the help of Mingi as he could feel how lethargic his body is at the moment. 

“I’m being a burden again..” Yunho mumbled sadly and yelped in surprise when Mingi suddenly kissed his cheek. The half-elf blushed as he glanced at the guards that were obviously watching him and Mingi but they had a fond smile on their faces. “M-mingi! Your guards are here!” Yunho hissed quietly and Mingi just hummed, kissing Yunho’s cheeks again and Yunho just gave up stopping him. “I don’t care. You’re mine. I can show them whatever I want to show towards you.” Yunho huffed at that but let Mingi caress his hair while at it. “Well, if they’re not going to hate me, then it’s fine.” 

“They won’t, melleth. Our people are nice and kind towards everyone. No matter what race you are. Don’t worry.” Mingi said softly and Yunho nodded his head, giving the guards a small soft smile and all the guards beamed up, nodding and bowing at Yunho. Yunho was about to go to the middle of the camp to grab his meal when Mingi stopped him. “Let me. You should rest as much as you can.” Mingi said, already standing up without waiting for Yunho’s reply and grabbed 2 bowls of the meat stew before going back and took the tea from Seonghwa. 

Yunho was about to eat the stew himself when Mingi pulled the bowl away from him, making Yunho pouts. “Let me eat it myself at least, melleth..” Yunho pouted but Mingi won’t have it as he scooped the stew and brought the spoon towards Yunho’s mouth. With a red face, Yunho puffed out his cheeks as he opened his mouth, letting Mingi feed him though he is very aware of the others eyes on him. He ignored all of them as Mingi fed him until the stew was finished and he drank the tea. 

“I’m sleepy..” Yunho said, yawning while at it and Mingi cooed at the cute sight. “It’s the tea, melleth. Get some sleep. We will ride again next morning. All of us will rest here for tonight.” Mingi said as he gently tucked Yunho in on the bedroll, putting a thin blanket on Yunho and caressing his hair until Yunho drifted to sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments <333


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